I still have posts to update on this years Gaia/nature reading challenge but since the challenge is continuing into 2023 and rather than leaving everything to the last minute, I thought I would post an initial sign-up page now. To participate just leave a comment below.

You don’t have to have a blog, but if you do blog, feel free to leave a link back to your blog and feel free to use the 2023 badge, (created in canva), or create one of your own, (would love to create a page of badges to share here on the blog, so feel free). You can also leave a link back to your Goodreads, Facebook, or Instagram account if those are the platforms you would like to record your reads on. This year’s badge features a polar bear and a sun bear, the largest and smallest members of the bear family, (both species are on the IUCN red list), hopefully encouraging you to read from the frozen north to the steamy rainforest and everything in between.

Both sun bears and polar bears are facing on going and increasing threats from climate change and habitat destruction, as are so many other species, from hoverflies to rhinos. Part of the reason for the challenge is to increase knowledge and caring about our threatened environment while also creating a community of support for those of us who care. The choice of bears for the badge was inspired by Sarah Pye and her great books previously blogged about here. (Check out Sarah’s website she has a Christmas special on the Wildlife Wong series for budding young ecologists).

There are no strict rules to the challenge. Pledge to read as many or as few nature-themed books as you would like, just one qualifies for the challenge. The titles you choose can be either fiction or non-fiction they just have to have nature, climate or environment as an issue or theme. Share your reading via comments on Gumtrees and Galaxies, links are welcome and encouraged.

The challenge will officially start on the 1st of January 2023 and run until the 31st of December 2023. You can sign up now via the comments on this post. It is optional if you want to pledge to read particular titles but I would love to know what others are reading.

In 2023 I want to increase my engagement with diversity and try to read titles that incorporate the experience of as many diverse authors as possible or titles that address the issue of diversity in relation to the environment. My tentative initial list so far:

Eco fiction:

  • Bewilderment by Richard Powers
  • The Last Quarter Of The Moon by Zijian Chi, Bruce Humes (Translation)

Wildlife:

  • Koala: A Natural History and an Uncertain Future by Danielle Clode

Environmental activism:

  • The Intersectional Environmentalist: How to Dismantle Systems of Oppression to Protect People + Planet by Leah Thomas
  • FIRE: A Message from the Edge of Climate Catastrophe by Margi Prideaux

There will be many more titles added, this is just my initial list, I will add an update with more titles before the start of 2023. Would love to have you join me on my nature reading adventure, just leave me a comment and let me know what you will be reading, happy to share links.

Published by Sharon

24 thoughts on “2023 Gaia/nature”

  4. Wow Sharon, you’re getting in early, already thinking about 2023! I’ve still got a few Gaia reads from this year to actually write up, but will be definitely joining in again. Perhaps next year I will be more diligent about getting posts from out of my head and onto the screen. Thanks for reminding us again about diversity – I see one of your prospective reads is one in translation. Great idea. Too often we can just get caught up in our own little corner of the world and forget that climate change affects the whole world, especially poorer and marginalised communities.

    Liked by 1 person

    Reply
  6. Pingback: The 2023 Master List of Reading Challenges – Girlxoxo
  10. Pingback: Some Gaia updates – Gum trees and Galaxies

  11. I’m not big on reading challenges ( too much pressure!) but this seems a good way of getting acquainted with titles I might not otherwise come across, and I already have a couple of titles lined up for the new year. I’m in!

    Liked by 1 person

    Reply
  12. Pingback: My 2022 Reading Wrap-Up – The Book Stop

  14. I enjoyed this quite a bit last year, so I’ll participate again. I’m going to try and read 8 books. I just finished a novel that I’d consider nature themed, it’s Island of Missing Trees by Elif Shafak. Not only is there a lot of information about different kinds of trees, some of the story is actually told from the perspective of a fig tree.

    Liked by 1 person

    Reply

    1. I am a big fan of hiking books, there is something about a long walk that just gets you in touch with what matters while shedding all the stuff that doesn’t. That sounds like a great choice.

      Like

      Reply
  16. Pingback: My Book and Blog Goals for 2023 – The Book Stop
  17. Pingback: Thoroughly British Rainforests – From Pyrenees to Pennines

Leave a Reply

Fill in your details below or click an icon to log in:

Gravatar
WordPress.com Logo

You are commenting using your WordPress.com account. ( Log Out /  Change )

Twitter picture

You are commenting using your Twitter account. ( Log Out /  Change )

Facebook photo

You are commenting using your Facebook account. ( Log Out /  Change )

Cancel

Connecting to %s