Jeff Greenwald

During my 40-year career I have traveled extensively as a writer, artist, and photographer. Early assignments included lectures and educational programs for the Exploratorium, Hostelling International, the Body Shop International, and the Asian Art Museum of San Francisco.

Between 1980 and 1983 I lived in Santa Barbara, California, and served as Cultural and Features Editor of the Santa Barbara News & Review. In the Spring of 1983 I was awarded a Journalism Fellowship by the Rotary International Foundation, and departed for a 16-month residency in Nepal. During this time, I completed magazine assignments from the Himalaya, India, Sri Lanka, Hong Kong, Japan, and Indonesia.

My best-known book, Shopping for Buddhas, was published in 1990 and is now in a 25th Anniversary Edition. While writing The Size of the World—a chronicle of my around-the-world overland voyage (Globe Pequot, 1995 & Ballantine, 1996)—I worked with O’Reilly Associates to upload dispatches from 20 cities, creating what is acknowledged as the world’s first Internet travel blog. This book was followed by Future Perfect: How Star Trek Conquered Planet Earth, released by Viking Penguin. An anthology of short pieces, Scratching the Surface, appeared in 2002. Snake Lake—set in Nepal during the 1990 revolution—was published by Counterpoint in 2010. In 2020 I co-authored The Nine Gifts with Christine Marie Mason, and in 2021 my most recent book—108 Beloved Objects—was released as a limited edition in hardcover.

My science and travel writing is widely anthologized, and has appeared in print and online publications including Afar, Wired, New Scientist, Smithsonian, BBC Online, and The New York Times Magazine. I have worked in communications with Mercy Corps, Seacology, and Black Rock City LLC, where I co-authored (with Burning Man founder Larry Harvey) Out of Nothing, a compendium of our four years of conversations. Recently my portfolio has expanded to include editorial consulting and direction for individuals and companies. As an editorial director with Now Labs Inc. my clients included Esté Lauder, Panasonic, Nanotronics, Nuelle, and Magellan. From 2016 and 2017 I served as Managing Editor of Enter, a magazine focusing on tech innovation and design. During this time I had the pleasure of engaging with many luminaries in these fields, including neuroscientist David Eagleman, storytelling guru Michael Margolis, author Mary Roach, and “Internet of Things” pioneer Kevin Ashton.

Continuing clients include The Stone Clinic in San Francisco, Rosebud Woman, and the EarthHQ project of the Global Commons Alliance in Washington DC. I am also engaged as communications director for MacArthur fellow Ned Kahn, working with Kahn as he prepares educational artworks to be installed on the Axiom Space Station.

In addition to my writing work, I serve as Executive Director of Ethical Traveler (a project of the Earth Island Institute)—founded in 2003 as a global community dedicated to the ambassadorial potential of world travel. In 2017 and 2018, I produced and hosted the Ethical Traveler Podcast. A solo show based on my travel books, Strange Travel Suggestions, has been playing to Bay Area and national audiences since 2005.

jeff@jeffgreenwald.com