(Roughly) Daily

Widely considered to be the first sanitary landfill in the U.S., the Fresno garbage dump, which opened in 1937, has the dubious distinction of being named to both the U.S. National Register of Historic Places and the nation’s list of Superfund sites. That’s a funny pair of categories to straddle, but it illustrates an important point: Trash is a starring character in the American story, even as we continue to wrestle with its consequences…

Dumpster dive at “Mapping America’s Mountains of Garbage.”

* John Steinbeck, Travels with Charley: In Search of America

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As we sort compost from recycling, we might recall that it was on this date in 1583 that Sir Humphrey Gilbert established the first English colony in North America, at what is now St. John’s, Newfoundland and Labrador.

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