The buildup of toxic materials in our air and water and soil used in the endless drive to industrialize has deeply invaded our bodies. Many ecosystems and species cannot sustain even another four to eight years of the kind of abuse that a conservative regime will impose. Up until now in history, humans have believed that everything will work itself out given enough time. In the past, although people died, there has been the fundamental assumption that humans and the Earth would live on. This may have been true for a long time in human history, but the Industrial Revolution eliminated this as an option.
Machines can work exponentially faster at chewing up our Earth than a human with a plow.
The last 300 years has seen a level of environmental, ecosystem and species destruction that it would have taken many more centuries for a less technical society to achieve. It is hard to imagine that it is ever possible to run out of time. But with only five percent of our rainforests left and 95 percent of the forests in the lower 48 states having been logged at least once, time is a serious issue. Large areas of our oceans are poisoned and lifeless and in some parts of the world, birth defects are a way of life. Since the debacles of James Watt during the Reagan Administration when this Secretary of the Interior openly showed his contempt for environmental issues and captured massive media attention, conservative forces have gotten really good at keeping their environmental destruction below the level of most media attention.