Couldn't agree more with your post, BevoAbyss. I pick the detail above because ignoring the charm and beauty of the dark night sky sorta suggests where all of these problems found root.
It would be so easy to put shades on street lights and giant parking lot lights so that they only cast their light downwards and not up to veil the view of the stars. Hell, the parking lot lights could just be turned off after closing.
We've moved to the country just north of Johnson City. Some of the women of the area have addressed the tiny local government about the needlessly bright lights in a few locations. There're maybe 25 altogether. Preserve the night sky!
The mayor at the time just dismissed the idea with, "I like bright lights!" Just scorn for the idea that something so simple as preserving the night sky.
This is the political forum, and I'll point once again to the GOP hate engine. Recall that Nixon signed environmental laws that received largely, as I recall, bi-partisan support. Why should there be resistance to cleaning the rivers and air?
The hate engine gives us the notion of "environmental wackos" who tread on the sacred rights of industry to do whatever they please. Industry is capitalism. Capitalism is what the Founding Fathers founded with the Declaration of Capitalism and Constitution of the Holy Order of the Market.
Now, there is knee-jerk objection to anything suggesting the environment deserves priority or that doing things just a little differently could add some beauty to our world.
So, why give up plastic? Why consider cutting back on beef? Why not keep buying giant vehicles that you don't need? Why change anything in this perfect world created by the greatest country that ever existed peopled by the best people ever?
Not even one simple thing like preserving the night sky will be considered.