I am worried about many things. And I think we are already in serious trouble with regards to pollution and climate change.
For this one thing, spy satellites in low Earth orbit, I am not so worried. Without active re-boosts, these orbits tend to degrade quickly, and the junk gets dragged out on a relatively quick timescale.
Medium orbits, however, can last a super long time, and junk up there is a very serious concern.
BTW, as the average global temperature rises, the atmosphere expands, which will degrade the orbits of the lower satellites even quicker!
A lot of these are in orbits as low as possible to maximize resolution. Orbital debris is less of a concern there because it tends to de-orbit quickly. In contrast to SSO where debris stick around like with that NOAA satellite just broke up.
Human manufacturing seems to pollute everything. Plastic in the bodies of water etc.
It’s the tragedy of the unmanaged commons! People don’t care about exponential growth issues until it’s a few seconds to midnight. Except in the case of Kessler syndrome, it’s even worse because it grows AFTER you stopped.
Bitcoin mining electricity use is another big example.
