Pop Culture Shards From the Trash Heap of History

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The guardrails protecting democracy may have buckled, but they are not broken. Autocratic forces are ascendant in America—yes, it can happen here, and did—but the story isn’t fully written. Truth-telling independent media is one remaining bulwark against Trump’s unrestrained exercise of power. He rails against the press as the “enemy of the people,” because like all liars and extremists, he hates the scrutiny that comes from fearless investigative reporting. Our nonprofit newsroom is built for the chaos and uncertainty ahead. Depend on it, and please stand with us.

The guardrails protecting democracy may have buckled, but they are not broken. Autocratic forces are ascendant in America, but the story isn’t fully written. Truth-telling independent media is one remaining bulwark against Trump’s unrestrained exercise of power. He rails against the press as the “enemy of the people,” because he hates the scrutiny that comes from fearless investigative reporting. Our nonprofit newsroom is built for the chaos ahead. Please stand with us.

Year	Trash	Treasured?
1969	Oscar the Grouch debuts on Sesame Street.	40 years later, kids still sing “I Love Trash!”
1970	Woodsy Owl implores kids to “Give a Hoot. Don’t Pollute.”	In 1997, Woodsy changes his tune: “Lend a Hand. Care for the Land.”
1977	Plastic bags first appear in grocery stores.	Everybody now: “Paper or plastic?”
1985	Garbage Pail Kids trading cards parody ubiquitous Cabbage Patch Kids dolls.	Up Chuck and Ray Decay make GPK “the gross-out phenomenon of the ’80s.”
1999	*American Beauty* features two-and-a-half-minute shot of floating plastic bag.	Film theorists still debating whether it’s a metaphor for a society hurtling toward ecological destruction—or just a bag.
2000	Wilson the volleyball becomes Tom Hanks’ best friend in Cast Away.	In a realistic touch, Wilson eventually washes out to sea to become turtle food.
2008	Wall-E cleans up the world by himself, one garbage cube at a time.	Spawned timeless products such as Wall-E flip-flops.
2008	As part of a $1.2 million office remodel, Merrill Lynch CEO John Thain expenses a $1,045 trash can.	Shamed into paying for the can, Thain says it was “a mistake in light of the world we live in today.”