by: Edna Gundersen (page 2D)
"Some people hear it and some people don't," Natalie Merchant says about consciousness-raising efforts of rock benefits. "The message gets through to people who are receptive. Everyone else just hears the music."
The 10,000 Maniacs singer/ songwriter is one of pop music's most visible environmental activists.
At a recent all-star Earth Day concert in Los Angeles, she spoke backstage about the personal side of her longstanding commitment to ecology causes. She's fighting to prevent expansion of a nuclear dump site in West Valley, N.Y., near her upstate abode. "It's in my own backyard, and I feel so helpless," she says.
Despite efforts to increase awareness, she's not optimistic, "probably because I'm more aware than a lot of people."
To those in denial about the planet's deterioration, Merchant suggests: "Put your face close to the exhaust pipe of your car. That's what's pumping into the environment."