Author: Will Eifert

The rhetoric around the Russo-Ukrainian war has been heating up. We’ve seen previously that there have been moments of panic about nuclear war, first at the outset of the Russian invasion, then when a nuclear powerplant became a combat zone.

Now, president Putin has made nuclear threats. Biden is saying Armageddon is near. Zelenskyy is recommending preemptive strikes. At least in the latter two cases, the leaders’ teams have made an effort to dull those remarks. However, throwing around the possibility of nuclear war has made an impact on civilians, and we can see it even using a single search term.

Two of the largest railroad workers unions could be on strike as early as September 16. And since 40% of long-distance trade in the U.S. is hauled by rail, that’s a pretty big deal.

Naturally, this news made national headlines, and if the strike actually happens it has major implications for businesses. So let’s take a look at some potential impacts and how they might show up symptomatically in Google search.

On July 13, reports spread of a Deutsche Bank communication regarding Europe’s energy crisis. Natural gas prices are soaring, and in it’s report, Deutsche Bank noted: “In addition, substitution of gas by other energy sources (hard coal and lignite in the power sector, wood for heating purposes in private households where possible, switch to oil derivatives in the industry, etc.) contributes to lower gas demand.”

The public latched on to that line about “wood for heating.” Headlines worldwide, like this one from Market Insider, proclaimed that Germans would be switching to wood for the winter.

Social media ignited at the first news that Russian forces had attacked a nuclear power plant. In what has been a truly been a 2022 phenomenon, people could watch the gunfight live on a webcam. Tracers zipped back and forth on screen, and a fire broke out in the building in view.

Lets look at how this news was reflected in search behavior.

As always, search data has a way of uncovering what people are thinking about underneath the surface. In this post we take a look at what’s on the mind of Americans during the Russian invasion of Ukraine.