was featured on the cover of Parade, and Buettner was interviewed extensively on national media. In 2019, Buettner and National Geographic photograph David McLain revisited all of the Blue Zones to study diet; based on this, Buettner and Mclain wrote Blue Zones Kitchen. In 2020, Blue Zones LLC was acquired by the Adventist Health System. AARP/Blue Zones Vitality Project In 2008, inspired by Finland’s North Karelia Project, Buettner designed a plan to apply his Blue Zones principles to an American town. He auditioned five cities and chose Albert Lea, Minnesota for the AARP/Blue Zones Vitality Project, where he believed the key to success involved focusing on the ecology of health—creating a healthy environment rather than relying on individual behaviors. Walter Willett, chair of the department of nutrition at the Harvard School of Public Health, found the results "stunning". As a whole, the community showed an 80% increase in walking and biking; 49% decrease in city worker’s healthcare claims, and 4% reduction in smoking. The community shed 12,000 pounds, walked 75 million steps, and added three years to their average life expectancy. City officials reported a 40% drop in health care costs. Blue Zones Project In 2010, Buettner partnered with Healthways, a global health and well-being company, to scale the Blue Zones city work under the rubric of Blue Zones Projects. The Blue Zones Project team partnered Beach Cities Health District in Southern California to apply Blue Zone principles to three California communities—Redondo Beach, Hermosa Beach, and Manhattan Beach. Their work occasioned the lowering of BMI by 14% and smoking by 30%, as well as increasing healthy eating and exercise. In 2011, the Blue Zones Project joined forces with Wellmark Blue Cross and Blue Shield to deliver the Blue Zones Project, across the State of Iowa as the cornerstone of the Governor’s Healthiest State Initiative and is at work in 18 cities there to effect change. In 2013, projects began in Fort Worth, Texas and on Hawaii. In 2014, work began in Naples, Florida, South Bend, Indiana and Klamath Falls, Oregon. In 2018, Klamath Falls was recognized by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation (RWJF) as the "Culture of Health" prize winner Public speaking Bill Clinton’s Global Initiative, 2013 Tiger21, 2015 Google Zeitgeist, 2012 TEDxTC 2009 (Minneapolis/St. Paul), independently organized TED event. Personal life Buettner and American model Cheryl Tiegs ended a relationship on January 1, 2009. Bibliography Buettner, Dan. (February 25,