Social issues are important to Meryl Streep onscreen and off. Music of the Heart, her latest film, looks at inner-city education. Mothers & Others, a nonprofit organization that Streep, 50, cofounded, publicizes environmental issues that impact children’s health. Scoop caught up with Streep at New York City’s Bryant Park, where her group picked up a donation from a retail company recently.

Music of the Heart is not a tremendous box office success. Does that say something about moviegoers, or marketing?

I don’t think you can track these things. Yes, it has to do with marketing, but I think movies always are, and will always be, a crapshoot. I never do anything according to what I think will be boffo box office. I do things that I feel I want to be out there. And [movies] I want to go see, want my kids to see, want my friends to be proud of.

Why start Mothers & Others?

Ten years ago the National Resources Defense Council brought to the attention of parents across America the fact that [the allowable rates of pesticide residue] on fruits and vegetables were set according to the tolerance of a 190-lb. male. And that in fact children ate, drank and consumed more for their body weight than men did, and that their systems were more vulnerable. Since then the rates have been changed. We’ve had a fantastic success.

Why was this issue important to you?

I don’t think we know enough about what we put on the table, what we clean our houses with. It’s a question of labeling and the right to know. To me the right to know is fundamental.

How big is your organization?

We have something like 38,000 subscribing members to our newsletter.

One more question. It’s been 20 years since Kramer vs. Kramer, where your character caught flack for putting herself before her family. Would she be treated the same way today?

Oh, that’s a very interesting question. I think it would be very different right now, actually. I think more girls would be on my side.