Climate change is the most pressing issue of our time, a crisis that will affect every industry, every nation, every human life.
Yet people seem more curious about the Kardashians. That’s not a criticism or a lament, but a sign climate communicators might have some things to learn from one of the world’s most famous families.
As communication consultant and author Solitaire Townsend pointed out in a viral tweet, searches for "kardashian” have outranked searches for climate change since January 2007 (when Kim Kardashian first rose to fame.) Climate change has only beaten the Kardashians once, on April 22, 2022, otherwise known as Earth Day. Google’s "doodle” to celebrate the event highlighted climate change with gifs of satellite images showing melting glaciers, snow-cover loss, deforestation and coral bleaching. Clicking on the doodle took you to a search-results page for "climate change,” driving a spike in traffic.