This isn't really an answer to your question, but I feel like a big part of the problem is that people don't know what they're missing. Even though I've tried to find dark places to see the stars, I have never in my life seen the night sky without light pollution.
I've thought about it a lot and there probably isn't the political will to start something like this, but I think there should be, on the last new moon in August (any day would work, but it has to be the dark and clear), a national night sky holiday, where everyone turns off the lights for an hour after midnight, so we can all get a chance to really see the stars. (Turning off the the power for an hour would be even better, but that might cause problems with the power grid.)
I spent several weeks in NW Australia, in desert areas. At this time it was considered one of the darkest places on Earth.
I can honestly say the stars were the most incredible thing imaginable. I slept in a swag, under the stars for many weeks. I’d wake up sometimes at about 2am for an hour or so as I’d go to bed so early because we had very little artificial lighting.
One particular night I remember the whole sky looked purple and white with stars, I could see so many objects moving, satellites and who knows what else, the sky looked alive.
I remember thinning how lucky I was to see it, I also remember thinking “why would anyone watch TV if they could see this instead ?”.
It really put things in perspective for me and made me realise the earth is an incredible spaceship, maybe the best one we will ever have!
Australia used to have this thing called “earth hour” where they encouraged you to turn off your lights for an hour. Not sure if it was officially scrapped or if no one cared anymore after lights become extremely efficient.
