In 2004, Dan and Nick Buettner teamed up with National Geographic and the world’s best longevity researchers to identify pockets around the world where people lived measurably better. In these Blue Zones they found that people reach age 100 at rates 10 times greater than in the United States.

On Friday, Feb. 27 at 7 p.m. at the Damariscotta Baptist Church, Nick Buettner will be speaking about the Blue Zones Project, as part of the Community Institute, a program of Friends of Midcoast Maine. This session is free and open to the public. Donations will be graciously accepted.

Buettner is committed to informing, inspiring and connecting people and ideas.  His work with the Blue Zones expedition team provided him a first hand, in person glimpse of these Blue Zones — places that have the greatest life expectancy and where more people reach age 100 than anywhere else in the world.

Using National Geographic photography and a dynamic, storytelling delivery, Nick Buettner takes audiences to these longest-lived cultures, shares his own observations from the field, and provides audiences with ideas to immediately increase their own well-being.

After identifying the world’s Blue Zones, the Buettners and National Geographic took teams of scientists to each location to identify lifestyle characteristics that might explain longevity. They found that the lifestyles of all Blue Zones residents shared nine specific characteristics. They call these characteristics the Power 9.

Dan Buettner’s subsequent book "The Blue Zones" hit the New York Times bestseller list and took Dan everywhere from Oprah to TED to Bill Clinton’s Health Matters Initiative. The success prompted a new challenge: could they build a Blue Zone in the US? Nick was also Executive Producer of the Blue Zones expeditions to Okinawa, Costa Rica and Ikaria.  As a leader on the Blue Zones team, Nick coordinated all field production operations and collaborated with “Good Morning America,” CNN, AOL, WCCO and the National Geographic Channel to produce live events from remote locations throughout the world project.

In 2009 they partnered with AARP and the United Health Foundation to apply the Power 9 principles to Albert Lea, Minnesota. It worked: after just one year, participants added an estimated 2.9 years to their average lifespan while healthcare claims for city worker dropped 49 percent. Harvard’s Walter Willett called the results “stunning.”

They are now building Blue Zones in cities and businesses across the country. Their mission — to help people live longer, better lives — is spreading.

This session is free and open to the public and donations graciously accepted. For more information, visit www.communityinstitute.org or www.friendsmidcoast.org.