Dan Buettner

Dan Buettner is ready to wow audiences with secrets from around the world to live longer, better, healthier and happier lives. Buettner is an internationally recognized explorer who founded Blue Zones™ --- a project of Quest Network, Inc. that researches the world's best practices in health and longevity and passes that information on to the public through web-based education and public speaking.  

A pioneer in both exploration and education, Buettner has set several world records for endurance cycling and created one of the nation's premier adventure learning programs. His Quest Network™ of online expeditions has opened a new chapter in the book of exploration. Quests enable millions of online explorers to direct a team of experts as they unravel archaeological mysteries. The Washington Post called his Quests “the most successful experiment in interactive education to date.”

In 1995, seeking a platform to use the Web and take audiences along on journeys of discovery, Buettner founded Earthtreks, Inc. The company’s first project, MayaQuest, enabled an online audience to solve the mystery of the ancient Maya civilization collapse. Some 1.3 million people, including 30,000 classrooms, participated in the Quest.

Prior to starting Earthtreks, Buettner set three Guinness World Records in long distancing cycling. Americastrek (1986-87) took a team of four Americans on a 15,500-mile ride from Prudhoe Bay, Alaska to Tierra del Fuego, Argentina. On Sovietrek (1990), two Russians, Buettner, and his brother, Steve, biked 12,888 miles around the world.  Africatrek, a multiracial, trans-Africa expedition, took place a year later. He recruited a four-member team of black and white cyclists to highlight the power of racial cooperation and setting goals. Their 12,172-mile ride across Africa took them across the Sahara, through equatorial Congo, and to the continent’s southern tip. In conjunction with the expedition, Buettner initiated a program that sent 1,000 bicycles to Africa and an education program that reached over one million students.

Buettner co-produced an Africatrek segment on National Geographic and an Emmy Award-winning PBS documentary. His accomplishments led to television appearances and profiles in dozens of publications, among them USA Today, The Washington Post, Sports Illustrated, National Geographic Adventure, TIME, Men's Health, Pravda, and People magazine. As a writer and photographer, Buettner's work has appeared in National Geographic World, LIFE, Sports Illustrated, Outside, Popular Mechanics, and The Chicago Tribune.

Buettner’s expeditions have garnered the support of many sponsors, including Target Stores, 3M, Apple Computer, Compaq Computers, Lifetouch Portraits, Sun Microsystems, Nike, and Rolex, and he was the spokesman for Target Stores’ Camp Target.

In the past 10 years, Buettner has delivered more than 500 keynote speeches in diverse venues, ranging from the National Association of Social Studies to Apple Computers, from Stanford University to Target Stores. The National Association of Campus Activities Directors inducted Dan into its “Hall of Fame” for his 200 college appearances.

Dan Buettner's Blog Entries:

Finding Happiness at Work

• 2. Unlocking the Secrets of Happiness

  
  Science shows that where we live--not education, marital status or wealth-- is the biggest, controllable factor that determines our happiness.  So where should we live?  a tropical island?  Paris?   Las Vegas?   It's not where you think.
  
  Working with Gallup, The World Values Survey and the World Data Base on Happiness, Dan and his team found the three pockets around the world where people report the highest level of well-being--or happiness.   Then, on assignment for National Geographic, he researched each of these hotspots and distilled down the common denominators in each place.  What can governments do to maximize the well-being of their citizens?   And more importantly, what can we do as individuals to stack the deck in our favor to maximize happiness?  
  
  His presentation incorporates National Geographic photographs and short video clips. It transports audiences to places around the globe where people are living happy and meaningful lives. It offers universal strategies on how to best achieve that life balance we all seek.

   

• 1. Blue Zones: Secrets of a Long Life

  World-renowned explorer and National Geographic writer, Dan Buettner, and his team of researchers have traveled across the globe to discover Blue Zones -- hotspots of human health and vitality.
  
  Along the way he's met people teeming with vigor at age 100 and beyond. These healthiest, longest-lived people have shared their secrets with Dan and he’s passing on those secrets. Dan and his team of top demographers, scientists and physicians have studied the elders’ diet, lifestyle and culture to create a cross-cultural blueprint for living longer that they will share with you. “We know there’s a recipe for longevity and that 75 percent is related to lifestyle,” he says. “And we’re figuring it out.”
  
  His presentation incorporates National Geographic images that will take audiences into the world’s four Blue Zones, tell stories and instruct how to get more life from your years and more years from your life. The presentation ends with a simple formula that shares how you could add up to eight good years to your life.

• Dan did such a stellar job at our conference.  We have no idea how we'll fill his shoes the next time we put on this event.

  Blue Cross Blue Shield of Minnesota

• Dan was rated our best speaker ever!

  Dole Packaged Foods

• Every comment we received was positive and accompanied with a request to be invited to his next presentation.

  Thrivent Financial Services for Lutherans

• Dan's presentation was one of the best we have had and the doctors continued talking about Blue Zones through the entire rest of the meeting.

  American Medical Directors Association

• Your tips for health and longevity added so much to the event. You truly exceeded our high expectations.

  The UP Experience

• Everyone was captivated about a topic that we hear quite regularly.  Dan's message is unique, practical and fact based.

  Ameriprise Financial, Inc.

• 
  October 2010

  Thrive: Finding Happiness the Blue Zones Way

  Working with leading researchers, Buettner identifies the happiest region on each of four continents. He explores why these populations say they are happier than anyone else, and what they can teach the rest of us about finding contentment. His conclusions debunk some commonly believed myths: Are people who have children happier than those who don't? Not necessarily—in Western societies, parenthood actually makes the happiness level drop. Is gender equality a factor? Are the world's happiest places to be found on tropical islands with beautiful beaches? You may be surprised at what Buettner's research indicates.

  
  
• 
  March 2008

  The Blue Zones: Lessons for Living Longer From the People Who've Lived the Longest

  With the right lifestyle, experts say, chances are that you may live up to a decade longer. What’s the prescription for success? National Geographic Explorer Dan Buettner has traveled the globe to uncover the best strategies for longevity found in the Blue Zones: places in the world where higher percentages of people enjoy remarkably long, full lives. And in this dynamic book he discloses the recipe, blending this unique lifestyle formula with the latest scientific findings to inspire easy, lasting change that may add years to your life.