About Greg

Greg Peterson is a green living and sustainability innovator who is well-known regionally. He has appeared extensively on local television and radio and is a frequent guest columnist for publications. His mission is “inspire people to embrace their own greenness,” which he does daily by living what he speaks. He received his master’s degree in Urban and Environmental Planning (MUEP) in December 2006 from Arizona State University. His academic training has been augmented by 34 years of real world self-study, ownership of multiple businesses and a rich background in entrepreneurship, computer training, software development and management.
As a resident of Phoenix for the last 41 years, Greg is well-versed in urban sustainability and food production in dry lands. He was first introduced to desert gardening at the age of 12. In 1991, he discovered the concept of permaculture, bringing together many sustainability concepts into one cohesive system. Then in 2001, Greg created a new concept called the Urban Farm (www.urganfarm.org), a real world environmental showcase home in the heart of Phoenix, Arizona. He applied his extensive background to transform this 1950’s built tract home into an innovative holistic home site. The Urban Farmwww.urbanfarm.org), featuring an entirely edible landscape, including over 70 fruit trees, rainwater and greywater harvesting, three solar applications, and extensive use of reclaimed and recycled building materials. The site is opened periodically throughout the year to the public and offers classes, lectures and tours.
His experience in nurturing the Urban Farm gave him an emerging presence in the community and, in 2004, Greg partnered with Don Titmus to create the nonprofit Phoenix Permaculture Guild (www.PhoenixPermaculture.org). Greg served as the director and organizer of the organization from its inception until December of 2008 and grew the Guild from a few events per year to an organization with a full board and hundreds of events per year.
In 2006, along with his business partner Amy Godfrey, Greg launched YourGuideToGreen, an internet portal designed to inspire mainstream consumers to go green by providing the right information and product at the right time in a fun, easy-to-understand, guilt-free way. YourGuideToGreen has experienced a significant amount of success in both traffic and commerce, experiencing more than a thousand percent growth rate in sales from 2007 to 2008. Additionally, Amy and Greg host a weekly green living podcast called Freshly Green!
Greg Peterson is a writer, teacher, and lecturer on many aspects of sustainability, green living and permaculture. His passion is to present the concepts so that average people can conceptualize and implement sustainability concepts into their own lives.. He has been a contributing writer for Phoenix Magazine for two years and for Edible Phoenix for three years. He a primary writer and host for the pilot television show Smart Spaces: Inside & Out (www.YourGuideToGreen.com/watch). His column, aptly named The Green Guy, is available for syndication. Greg is also a popular speaker on green and sustainability topics for organizations and regularly draws hundreds of people for his Living Green, What Does it Mean? lectures.
Greg is available to speak and write on the following topics: