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During the decade following May 1968, there were three different kinds of behaviors towards ecology in the French far left. First, some of the organizations were aware of environmental issues early on. Such pioneers were the parti socialiste unifié, as well as movements close to Maoism, known as ‘spontaneism’ (Vive la Révolution and the Gauche prolétarienne), and also a small Trotskyist group (the Alliance marxiste révolutionnaire). The next one was composed of followers and included the main Trotskyist organizations (Ligue communiste, Lutte ouvrière) and the Anarchist organizations. A third group was composed of the stubborn ones and gathered almost all of the Maoists and a few Trotskyist (Organisation communiste internationaliste) or Anarchist organizations (Guerre de classes). The intersection of three parameters explains this typology: the relation of these groups to the notion of modernity, the relation to Marxism, and the notion of revolutionary optimism.