They see the night sky only in pictures or at planetariums. Light pollution is not a matter of life and death. Yet it is important nonetheless, profoundly so. We human beings lose something of ourselves when we can no longer look up and see our place in the universe. Such a loss might be acceptable if light pollution were the inevitable price of progress, but it's not.
Most sky glow, as scientists call it, is unnecessary.
The light that obscures our view of the night sky comes mainly from inefficient lighting sources that do little to increase nighttime safety, utility, or security. For science, the impact has been even more tangible and adverse. Astronomers require observations of extremely faint objects that can be made only with large telescopes at sites free of air pollution and urban sky glow. For example, scientists interested in how the universe was formed may study the light of galaxies and quasars at incredibly vast distances from Earth. These images offer information about faraway corners of the universe, helping us understand how our own world was formed.