We are living through extraordinarily difficult times for both the sustainability sector and global humanitarian efforts, as readers of this blog are well aware.

Many of us have been struggling with the callous actions of the current U.S. Administration over the past seventeen months – the attacks on American institutions and citizens, the unlawful deportations, the cuts to food assistance (SNAP and USAID) and healthcare, the bullying of other nations, the support for authoritarians while turning away from long-time allies, and a looming global food crisis emanating from the war launched in the Middle East.

It goes without saying that these and other such actions are antithetical to advancing the needed global collaboration on sustainability and humanitarian goals, and deliberately so.

And specific to the environment, the assault on climate science, the easing of restrictions on climate super pollutants, the cancellation of previously approved funding for renewable energy projects, the withdrawal from the Paris Agreement and the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), signaling, as the University of Pennsylvania’s Jean Galbraith noted, “U.S. disdain for climate policy that’s essential for the world.”

And we must not forget the recent EPA rescission of the Endangerment Finding, which I covered in this February post and noted:   

“I think it’s important for all of us to step back and reflect on this action:  The very agency tasked with ensuring a safe environment for Americans has just taken a major step to do exactly the opposite.”

For me, along with all of the deportation-related cruelty of the past seventeen months and the continuing assault on the environment and humanitarian values, the cuts to USAID were an especially  devastating point – the intentional attack on the most vulnerable in the world that showcased a complete reversal of traditional American values regarding compassion, goodwill, and genuine concern for humanity.

Through these dark times, I keep coming back to that one critical word – humanity. 

And to get through these times, I believe it is essential that we continually look for sources of inspiration to help us find our action points to lead positive change.

In recent months, as I write post after post on needed sustainability and food system change, it has been challenging to stay focused amid the ongoing domestic and geopolitical disruption, and I have heard many colleagues express similar sentiment.  So this month I took a slight detour, while staying on point to the themes of this blog, to comment on how one of my heroes has sustained me throughout this period – with links to food security, humanity, and democracy.

I’m talking about Bruce Springsteen, whom I have followed for five decades.

And while many may be unaware, Springsteen has consistently been advocating for food security, humanity, and democracy for decades, and in the last several years he has emerged as a global force for positive change – so I thought it would be uplifting to showcase, and amplify, some of his advocacy in these three key areas.

On Food Security

First, Springsteen has long been a proponent of food security.

At countless shows he has partnered with local food relief agencies – calling out the value of their work and asking his fans to support them on their way out.  Often, he notes how these organizations are “on the front lines” and “doing God’s work” to help our neighbors who are hurting in tough times.

For example, going back as far as 1985, I recently heard this excerpt from an August concert in New Jersey in which he stated:

Tonight there are some people in the audience that are showing their pride, and showing their responsibility to the community that they come from.  There are folks from the Community Food Bank of New Jersey and from the Food and Hunger Hotline of New York City.  Now what a food bank is is that every year 20 percent of all the food that gets produced in the United States ends up getting thrown away.  Meanwhile in every city and in every state we’ve got kids going to bed hungry, not eating the correct kinds of food.  We’ve got old folks whose Social Security checks don’t get them through the month. We’ve got people that have been hit hard by unemployment.  And what’s happening is we’ve got a system where they are not getting caught in a safety net, they are blown straight through to the bottom, and they need some help.  And what a food bank does is it gets that food that would normally be wasted and it gets it to the agencies that serve the people. And right now, with the government cut back in social spending, they need all of the help they can get because it’s a problem that’s not getting better, it’s getting worse. It is true that the rich are getting richer and the poor are getting poorer.  And in a country that’s as rich as ours, it just doesn’t seem to make sense that we should have the kind of poverty that we do.  It’s really an embarrassment and a shame on all of our national pride.  So, if you’re proud of where you come from, you can do something about it.  Some people, they don’t believe that people can make a difference, but I think that they can.  So the numbers for those organizations are gonna be out in the lobby during the break.  If you could check ‘em out, I’d appreciate it.  Because these are the people that are out there in real life, every day, taking some of these ideas that I’m singing about tonight and making them real in people’s lives.  And without them, what I’m doing up here is just words.  So check ‘em out, Community Food Bank of New Jersey and the Food and Hunger Hotline of New York City, and remember, this is your home town, so you can do something about it. 

It’s especially notable to me that Springsteen pointed out the problem of food waste fully 25 years before the NRDC’s landmark report (which cited 40% wastage from farm to fork to landfill) helped launch a movement for food waste reduction in the U.S. 

Further, Springsteen’s statement was a moving action call to help our neighbors in need in the most basic way, with food security, and I am struck by the extreme relevance of his words back then to conditions of today – rising hunger, the affordability crisis, cuts to safety nets, and the normalization of the K-shaped economy in which the rich continue to get richer while the poor continue to struggle.  

Note the references to community and responsibility, and the encouragement that individuals can make a positive difference in the lives of others.  He added powerfully that without tangible action to help those in need, what he (and by extension, all of us) are doing are mere words.

And he backed up his action call at the time by writing checks for $25,000 to New Jersey and New York food relief groups as you can see in this news coverage from 1985 – a video which reveals the uniqueness and power of his action four decades ago.    

Another example of his concern for food security stems from a 2017 concert in Brisbane, in which he specifically called out support for Oz Harvest, the Australian organization focused on reducing food waste and feeding people in need.  Here again, Springsteen cited the importance of reducing food waste and feeding hungry neighbors:

We’ve got some friends in the house tonight, folks from Oz Harvest.  Oz Harvest is on a mission to eliminate hunger and food waste.  They collect excess food from restaurants and markets and they deliver it to charities that serve the hungry right here in your community.  If you see them on your way out, they’re your neighbors on the front line doing God’s work, they are Oz Harvest.  Let’s go, this is for them!

And with that, he launched into a screaming version of Born to Run!

And more recently, at a concert in Philadelphia in August of 2024, he called for support for Philabundance, the region’s primary hunger relief agency:

We’ve got some friends in the house tonight from Philabundance.  Philabundance distributes millions of pounds of food to thousands of people in need across nine counties in Pennsylvania and South Jersey.  Philabundance, if you see them on the way out tonight give them a hand, they are good folks on the front lines doing God’s work. 

And later in that same tour, at the end of the September 7th show at Nationals Park in Washington, he gave a supportive call to the incredible DC Central Kitchen, the Robert Egger-founded organization that leverages the power of food in fighting hunger and poverty through job training and job creation:  

We’ve got some friends in the hall, friends from the DC Central Kitchen.  And folks from Link Incorporated.  The DC Central Kitchen combats hunger and poverty, creating high living wage jobs, providing nutritious food where it’s most needed.  And Link Incorporated is a volunteer run organization that provides food and financial assistance to those in need in northern Virginia.  Those are the good folks out on the front lines doing God’s work, if you see them in the hall tonight please give them a hand.

So Springsteen’s long support for food security and hunger relief is quite clear and authentic.

On Humanity

Second, Springsteen continues to be a powerful advocate for justice and humanity, themes which are at the heart of his current and 2024/2025 tours – both of which I have been fortunate to attend in the EU and the U.S.

At the show in Prague in June of 2025, he introduced the moving song Long Walk Home with the statement “This is a prayer for my country.”  That song includes the powerful lines about traditional American leadership and values:

You know that flag flying over the Court House

It means certain things are set in stone

Who we are and what we’ll do and what we won’t.

And three days later, at the concert in Frankfurt, Germany, he continued to advocate for justice and humanity, citing the abuses of power by the current U.S. Administration regarding assaults on free speech and educational content, unlawful deportations, the roll back of civil rights legislation, and the abandonment of the world’s most vulnerable through extreme cuts to USAID:

Now I’ve always tried to be a good ambassador for America.  I’ve spent my life singing about where we’ve succeeded and where we came up short in living up to our civic ideals and dreams. But things are happening right now that are altering the very nature of my country’s democracy and are too important to ignore.  Now, all of our homes and all of our countries have their own problems.  So first, I want to thank you tonight for indulging me in mine, thank you.  But in America, they are persecuting people for using their right to free speech and voicing their dissent.  That’s happening now.  In America, the richest men are taking satisfaction in abandoning the world’s poorest children to sickness and death.  This is happening now.  In my country, they are taking sadistic pleasure in the pain they inflict on loyal American workers.  They’re rolling back historic civil rights legislation that led to a more just society and was fought so, so hard for.  This is happening now. They’re abandoning our great allies and they’re siding with dictators against those struggling for their freedom.  They are defunding American Universities that won’t bow down to their ideological demands.  They are removing residents off of American streets and with no due process of law are deporting them to foreign detention centers and prisons.  They’re deploying the U.S. military onto American streets against American citizens based on falsehoods about a foreign invasion.  This is all happening now.  A majority of our elected representatives have utterly failed to protect the American people from the abuses of an unfit President and a rogue government.  They have no concern or idea of what it means to be deeply American.

Now the America that I’ve sung to you about for fifty years of my life, that America is real, and regardless of its many faults, it’s a great country with a great people, and we’ll survive this moment. 

Now I have hope because I believe in the truth of what the great American writer James Baldwin said: “In this world, there isn’t enough humanity as one would like, but there’s enough.”

So let’s pray.

And with that he launched into the iconic My City of Ruins, a song of hope for the rebuilding of depressed urban areas, including Asbury Park and later strongly associated with New York City in the wake of the 9/11 attacks.   

At that time, I found his comment about America’s richest men taking satisfaction in abandoning the world’s poorest children to sickness and death to be extremely powerful – as I still do – and it takes me back to his above-mentioned call out at the 1985 New Jersey show in which he noted that the rich are getting richer while the poor are getting poorer, and that the level of poverty in a country as rich as ours is nonsensical. 

And I found his message of hope in the words of James Baldwin to be especially inspiring.  To repeat:  In this world, there isn’t enough humanity as one would like, but there’s enough.

In the current tour, Springsteen continues to point to the abuses of power and the lack of humanity we are seeing from the current U.S. Administration, while also providing hope and inspiration – reminding us that we will get through these difficult times.

On Democracy

Third, beyond today’s much-needed focus on justice and humanity, Springsteen continues to advocate strongly for democracy versus autocracy – a key theme of the current and prior Land of Hope and Dreams tours.

For example, in the June 2025 Frankfurt show, he provided a sage warning regarding the fragility of democracy, noting that “When conditions in the country are ripe for a demagogue, you can bet one will show up.  This is for America’s Dear Leader.”

And with that he launched into Rainmaker, a song in which he modified the last line below as follows:

They come ’cause they can’t stand the pain
Of another long hot day of no rain
‘Cause they don’t care or understand
How easy it is to let freedom slip through your hands

Having traveled across Germany prior to the show and spent time observing a powerful memorial to the Jews of Wurzburg who were forcibly rounded up and transported to Nazi concentration camps – just over 80 years ago – I was particularly struck by his warning of the danger of autocracy.

Further, at the Minneapolis show at the start of the 2026 tour – a tour which was specifically developed in response to the threat to democracy in the U.S. – Springsteen spoke out on the dangers we are facing:

Now here in the States, we are living through some very dark times.  Our American values that have sustained us for two hundred and fifty years are being challenged as never before.  We’ve got our young men and women’s lives at risk in an unconstitutional and illegal war.  This is happening now.  There are immigrants being held in detention centers around the country and being deported without due process of law to alien countries and foreign gulags.  This is happening now.  Our Justice department has completely abdicated its independence and our Attorney General Pam Bondi takes her marching orders straight from a corrupt White House.  She prosecutes our President’s perceived enemies, covers up for his misdeeds, and protects his powerful friends.  And this is happening now.  The richest men in America have abandoned the world’s poorest children to death and disease through their dismantling of USAID.  This is happening now.  We are abandoning NATO and the world order that’s kept us safe and at global peace for 80 years, this is happening now.  We threaten our neighbors and our allies whose sons and daughters have fought alongside us in American wars with a predatory annexation of their lands.  This is happening now.  Our museums are being told to whitewash American history of any unpleasant or inconvenient facts like the full history of the brutality of slavery.  You want to talk about snowflakes?  We have a President who can’t handle the truth.

This is happening now, while working Americans struggle, our President and his family enrich themselves by billions of dollars trading on the people’s office in corruption unmatched in American history.  This is happening now.  This White House is destroying the American Idea and our reputation around the world.  To many we are no longer looked upon as an often imperfect but strong defender of democracy standing for the global good.  We are no longer the home of the free and the land of the brave.  We are now, to many, America the reckless, unpredictable, predatory rogue nation.  That is this Adminstration’s and this President’s legacy, and this is happening now. 

And with another inspirational action call, he added:

Honesty, honor, humility, compassion, thoughtfulness, morality, true strength, and decency – don’t let anybody tell you that these things don’t matter anymore.  They do.  They are at the heart of the kind of men and women we are, the kind of citizens we are, the kind of country we’ll be leaving to our children. 

So many of our elected leaders have failed us that this American tragedy can only be stopped by the American people.

So join us and let’s fight for the America that we love.

Are you with us?  Let’s pray!

At the end of that show, in response to what the citizens of Minneapolis have endured with ICE, he poignantly called for support for the Advocates for Human Rights, an organization founded by Minnesota lawyers with a mission of implementing international human rights standards to promote civil society and reinforce the rule of law:

We have some friends with us in the building tonight, you will see the Advocates for Human Rights.  The Advocates for Human Rights implement international human rights standards to promote civil society, to reinforce the rule of law.  They provide free legal services for low income asylum seekers, unaccompanied children, and ICE detainees.

And again, at this critical and dark time when so many business leaders, organizations, politicians and artists are staying silent, he gave us all a powerful message of hope, coupled with an action call:

These are the hard times, but we’ll make it through.  We’re gonna make it through, we’re the Americans.  But I think, I know for me, the hardest part about all of this is feeling the distance between your neighbors, your fellow citizens, and that distance, well it can darken your soul. 

Now we have a leader who says he wishes nothing but ill upon the people he disagrees with, and who disagree with him.  Now I don’t feel that way. 

America, from the beginning, was born out of disagreement.  It was built on disagreement.  We could argue about what course we thought the country should take while recognizing our common humanity, our dignity, and yes, our unity. 

Now, I go back to thinking about Renee Good’s last words, before she died.  To the man who she was protesting against, the man who would take her life, she said “That’s fine, I’m not mad at you.” 

I’m not mad at you. 

God bless her.

So tonight, when you go home, hold your loved ones close.  And tomorrow do as Renee did, find a way to take aggressive, peaceful action, to defend our country’s ideals.  And as the great civil rights leader John Lewis said, go out and get in some good trouble. 

Say something.  Do something.  Hell, sing something!

If you’re feeling helpless, hopeless, betrayed, frustrated, angry…I know I’ve been, that’s why the E Street Band is here tonight.  This is a tour that was not planned. 

We’re here tonight because we need to feel your hope, and your strength.

And we wanted to bring some hope and some strength for you.  I hope we did that.

All I can say is God bless Alex Pretti.  God bless Renee Good.  God bless you.  And God bless America. 

And with that, the band sailed into Bob Dylan’s epic Chimes of Freedom.

Finding our Inspiration Points for Positive Action

As I replay this particular moment, I realize just how important such moments of inspiration are for everyone today, especially those working to advance sustainability and humanitarian initiatives and preserve democracy.

And I was again inspired last night at the 2026 Boston show, where Springsteen called out support for the MIRA Coalition (Massachusetts Immigrant and Refugee Advocacy) – an organization advocating for the rights and integration of immigrants with a vision of a Commonwealth and nation where all can thrive. 

And last, I would be remiss if I did not close in highlighting Springsteen’s searing Streets of Minneapolis, a protest song that he released at the end of January in response to the brutality of this Administration’s immigration actions, and one which is central to the purposeful messaging of the current tour.

Upon releasing it, he noted “I wrote this song on Saturday, recorded it yesterday, and released it to you today in response to the state terror being visited on the city of Minneapolis.  It’s dedicated to the people of Minneapolis, our innocent immigrant neighbors and in memory of Alex Pretti and Renee Good.”

Hours after that song was released, after playing it for the first time, I wrote on the Youtube page:

“Written Saturday, recorded the next day, released yesterday, no one could create such a powerful song like that.  Never been so proud to be a lifelong Bruce fan.  Thanks as always Bruce, and thanks Minnesotans!”

Just a few days later, the song was playing over and over at a weekly protest event in my small town – and it provided a jolt of energy to all involved.

Food security, humanity, democracy – these are critical themes that underpin the Sustainable Development Goals, which were developed with the intent of providing a better life and healthier planet for all global citizens.   

Collectively, we need to take action to preserve and advance them, and we need to find sources of inspiration to help us do so – to lead change to increase food security and prevent a looming food crisis, restore aid to the most vulnerable, restore focus on humanity and collaboration versus nationalism and division, and preserve democracy over autocracy. 

I thank Bruce Springsteen for continually showing us the way, advocating for essential core values of food security and human rights, and providing us with the inspiration and courage to take meaningful action for food security, justice, equity, unity, humanity, and democracy.   

Let’s hope more artists, policymakers, and business leaders join in.

So as we all seek our sources of inspiration in these difficult times, let’s remember his action call:  Each one of us can make a difference – so let’s do something, say something, and maybe even sing something! – to drive positive change.