I saw these two maps over at Pleated Jeans. Immediately at seeing the title of “Light Pollution”, my response was “wealth, modernity” – the people of the US (not the national government) are much more wealthier and have higher expectations for standards of living. Thus, we have the ability and willingness to “push back the night”.
It’s also clear that by looking at the population density by State (second map), we see why the lack of night lights end almost in a straight line”:
