Thursday, December 10, 2009

Natalie Merchant

Gardener, Mom, Green Activist:

Singer-songwriter Natalie Merchant has been out of the limelight for several years, but she is about to re-emerge with a new album. Merchant recently turned up on Britain's Ecologist website in a Q&A that revolves around her environmental activism , which apparently is still as important to her as when she sang the green anthem “Poison in the Well” with her band 10,000 Maniacs and collected Greenpeace donations at her shows. A resident of rural New York and the mother of a young daughter, she says she supports local environmental groups like Scenic Hudson, Clearwater and Riverkeeper and has thrown her weight behind area campaigns like one opposing logging in Allegany State Park. Here are some snippets from the interview:



What book or film would you recommend all politicians read or see?

“ Koyaanisqatsi , directed by Godfrey Reggio with an astounding soundtrack by Philip Glass, is the film I would suggest everyone see. I saw Koyaanisqatsi in a theater when it was first released in 1982, and the impact that it had upon me is still felt. This film is a prophetic vision of a world gone mad, out of scale and out of control. Without a single word spoken, it hints at the vastness and beauty of the world and then explains that we, tiny and insignificant creatures, have swarmed together to do irreparable damage to it.”


I'll add my vote to "Koyaanisqatsi" and recommend that you also watch "Baraka."

Until then watch:


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