By the time liberals triumphantly proclaimed the end of history, some environmentalists had already begun to mobilize the public against Western modernity by proclaiming the end of nature. For many people, the environmentalist agenda meant a new ideology that could replace classical ideologies; many, on the other hand, understood environmentalism as radically anti-ideological. In this text, I will focus on the relationship between nature and society that lies in the core of both environmental thought and modern emancipatory projects. I will try to expose the inherent contradictions that environmental discourse inherited from liberalism and Marxism.