Will second wave environmentalism learn from the errors of the first wave?

The author argues that first-wave environmentalism failed because it lacked a convincing narrative on economic growth, failed to establish relative urgency against immediate poverty and debt crises, and remained isolated within environmental ministries. He evaluates the High Level Panel on Global Sustainability's report as a successful attempt to address these gaps through recommendations on green jobs, carbon pricing, and private sector engagement. However, he warns that the 'zero draft' for the Rio+20 outcome document remains largely aspirational and risks falling back into the 'environmental trap'.

• The 'first wave' of environmentalism failed primarily because it could not establish the relative urgency of natural resource catastrophes compared to the immediate economic crises of the late 1980s and early 1990s, such as debt defaults in Argentina and Mexico and famine in South Sudan.
• Agenda 21, the action programme from the 1992 Rio Conference, is criticised for lacking a substantive narrative on economic growth, mentioning the word only 46 times across nearly 300 pages, mostly in the context of population or disease.

APA

Maxwell, S. (2012). Will second wave environmentalism learn from the errors of the first wave? Climate and Development Knowledge Network. http://cdkn.org/wp-content/uploads/2012/02/Sustainable-development_Maxwell1.pdf

Chicago

Maxwell, Simon. Will second wave environmentalism learn from the errors of the first wave? Climate and Development Knowledge Network, 2012. http://cdkn.org/wp-content/uploads/2012/02/Sustainable-development_Maxwell1.pdf.

Wikipedia

{{cite report |last1=Maxwell |first1=Simon |title=Will second wave environmentalism learn from the errors of the first wave? |publisher=Climate and Development Knowledge Network |date=17 February 2012 |url=http://cdkn.org/wp-content/uploads/2012/02/Sustainable-development_Maxwell1.pdf |access-date=17 August 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@techreport{maxwell2012will, author = {Maxwell, Simon}, title = {{Will second wave environmentalism learn from the errors of the first wave?}}, institution = {Climate and Development Knowledge Network}, year = {2012}, month = feb, url = {http://cdkn.org/wp-content/uploads/2012/02/Sustainable-development_Maxwell1.pdf}, urldate = {2026-08-17}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }