Yes, space debris is a problem and we are likely not doing enough to keep up with the growth of the space industry. But I dislike the rhetoric of "People are not really worrying about this..."
This was really true in the early arenas of space and we can still see the effects of that today. But every person that launches a satellite now in order to get a communications license for their satellite from the FCC or the ITU has to prove that their satellite will de-orbit within 25 years. With the start of the mega-constellations there have been discussions about tightening this rule [0]. Chief among the people who want to tighten the rule is the US DoD. When you invest a whole lot of money in putting something up in to space you want to make sure it is going to survive. So there are significant number of people working on tighter restrictions for future satellites launched in to space.
From the side of removing debris from space, there are multiple people working on technologies to remove debris from space [1]. Part of the problem here is the economics of it do not currently add up. However, considering the investment in the prevention of creating more debris the economics of this might come around soon. The other problem is the actual technology of removing debris without creating more debris. To catch a piece of debris you essentially have to maneuver a satellite "rendezvous" with the debris. Otherwise the relative velocities might turn an instance of "catching debris" in to "debris collision". Maneuvering between objects takes fuel which means more mass launched and more money to remove something smaller.
This was really true in the early arenas of space and we can still see the effects of that today. But every person that launches a satellite now in order to get a communications license for their satellite from the FCC or the ITU has to prove that their satellite will de-orbit within 25 years. With the start of the mega-constellations there have been discussions about tightening this rule [0]. Chief among the people who want to tighten the rule is the US DoD. When you invest a whole lot of money in putting something up in to space you want to make sure it is going to survive. So there are significant number of people working on tighter restrictions for future satellites launched in to space.
From the side of removing debris from space, there are multiple people working on technologies to remove debris from space [1]. Part of the problem here is the economics of it do not currently add up. However, considering the investment in the prevention of creating more debris the economics of this might come around soon. The other problem is the actual technology of removing debris without creating more debris. To catch a piece of debris you essentially have to maneuver a satellite "rendezvous" with the debris. Otherwise the relative velocities might turn an instance of "catching debris" in to "debris collision". Maneuvering between objects takes fuel which means more mass launched and more money to remove something smaller.
[0] https://breakingdefense.com/2020/04/fcc-reconsiders-tighteni...
[1] https://www.nanalyze.com/2019/06/space-debris-removal/