Here's my list of actions (which I frame carefully by saying "when I hear a depressing talk, I want a list of things I can do myself immediately. If you are like that, pick one or two of these and run with it! If not, no guilt!")
Giant, powerful corporations like SpaceX will respond to only 2 things: legislation (which is very slow, and is now totally not going to happen in the US), and consumer pressure.
If you have alternatives, DO NOT USE STARLINK.
If you do not have alternatives (I live in rural Canada, I know how crappy rural internet is), tell Starlink, as a paying customer, that you want them to do a better job with orbital safety, atmospheric pollution, and light pollution. Tell them you want their satellites to be smaller, and you want them to provide service with fewer satellites.
They will listen more to you as a paying customer than to me as a complaining astronomer.
Talk to your friends and family about what is happening in orbit – most people have no idea the scale of unregulated commercialization that's now happening.
Tell your local/state/provincial/federal government representatives to support alternative ways of accessing internet (cell towers, new fibreoptic lines). Rural internet is crappy because of decades of underfunding rural infrastructure development.
This one applies to both amateur and professional astronomers: use your skills to show people the beautiful night sky! This is SO important to let the general public know what they are losing thanks to the billionaire space race.
So many astronomers donate their time to public observing nights and star walks and just setting up their telescopes in random places and letting people look through them and sharing beautiful astrophotos. THANK YOU! Keep doing it!!
Lastly, join groups who are already fighting. For all of you reading this (statistically mostly non-astronomers), I most highly recommend DarkSky International. They are a fantastic group doing great work!
As an example, please sign this open letter from DarkSky protesting against Reflect Orbital, which will be sent both to the company and to their fucking terrible investors: https://darksky.org/news/organizational-statement-reflect-orbital/
And get ready to write to the FCC when that comment period opens!
Now time to get ready for a CBC Sask video interview that I'm somehow supposed to do in my friends' house that is nearly completely full of small knickknacks (mostly elephant figurines) and every wall has hilariously garish 70's wallpaper, and where everyone is still asleep. Wish me luck... #ProfSamLectureTour
Now I'm at a public library (wooo libraries!) because the observatory in Victoria doesn't have a functional guest network and it's a federal facility so there aren't other options. My phone is nearly out of data after tethering all week... so I'll do a couple of zoom meetings from here. (Was a little disappointed this library doesn't have a meeting room I can use, but it's not currently raining and it's not super cold so I can sit outside)
Very nice librarian saw me setting up on the floor in the hallway and said "Use the teens area! They're all in school right now"
Yay libraries!!
This particular library was the only place I could work on making my first faculty job talk (while keeping my 1yo somewhat happy), during an incredibly unstable, stressful period of my life.
So I love this library, but it's also definitely bringing up some bad memories. Trying to focus on being grateful that I'm in a very good place now personally.
Prof. Sam Lawler