While I find these images extremely interesting, let me add a contrarian voice: the associations that such night-time photos bring up in me are primarily about waste and habitat destruction.
And to add a contrarian-contrarian voice: Similar day-time photos make the earth look almost entirely uninhabited. Not trying to make a point either way, but I find the contrast fascinating.
"We" don't destroy our immediate habitat, "we" destroy other people's habitats. Wasn't until recently that it became obvious that such a behavior destroyed our own habitat regardless, and even today it's not clear to many people why they should stop. Until then it was just a morality problem, and capitalism has no notion of morality.