![In 2018, Thailand closed Maya Bay to tourists indefinitely until its ecosystem returns to its full condition [AP/Sakchai Lalit]](/wp-content/uploads/2021/02/AP_18276411786803.jpg?resize=270%2C180)
The pandemic presents us with a great opportunity to do away with the destructive mass tourism industry.
![Greenpeace activists display a banner near logging trucks during a protest against forest destruction at Bukit Tiga Puluh in Indonesia''s Jambi province on August 5, 2010 [File: Reuters/Beawiharta]](/wp-content/uploads/2020/03/04a18a29a3894c7c9a74e1890541a631_18.jpeg?resize=270%2C180)
Therefore, climate action should be central to our response to the COVID-19 pandemic.
![Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez announces the introduction of public housing legislation as part of the Green New Deal in Washington on November 14, 2019 [Reuters/Erin Scott]](/wp-content/uploads/2019/12/fd42d0ac12ab420e8578e314e3b17a5d_18.jpeg?resize=270%2C180)
The Green New Deal will not work unless it dismantles neocolonial structures exploiting nature and people.
![Gentrification has already transformed the neighbourhood of Mile End in Montreal; a similar fate awaits Parc-Extension [Vijay Kolinjivadi/Al Jazeera]](/wp-content/uploads/2019/06/db2453a4defb4036a2b73fba5392055b_18.jpeg?resize=270%2C180)
Improving eco-efficiency within a capitalist growth-oriented system will not save the environment.