Into the Blue

Buettner’s outgoing personality is also, of course, helpful with the media. Before his Costa Rica trip, Buettner took his familiar swing through the New York media, visiting Anderson Cooper, Good Morning America, and Fox and Friends. In Costa Rica, the BBC tracked him down for comment when 114-year-old Emma Tillman, the world’s oldest woman, died in Connecticut. Steger, whom Buettner met in 1986, just before the cycle trek from Alaska to Argentina, has advised Buettner on how to present his work. “Will told me, when they ask you ‘What did you discover?’—don’t equivocate and qualify your discovery. Say ‘We made the most exciting discovery ever!’ ”

Buettner has also taken Steger’s advice for garnering sponsors for his quests. Before leaving for Costa Rica, he drew me a diagram that looked like an octopus, with “The Quest” circled in the middle and tentacles stretching out to items such as public speaking (he can earn more than $10,000 a gig), his books, and the corporate sponsors that underwrite his school curriculum and quests. “The best thing to do is think ‘What do I have that’s valuable to somebody else?’ If you can articulate that, then all of a sudden you start to see pretty clearly the things that show your value and what you have to add.”

With the Blue Zones, Buettner realized early on that in addition to his far-flung audience of grade schoolers, there are 78.2 million baby boomers keenly interested in longevity. His largest project sponsor is Allianz Life, the massive finance and insurance company headquartered in St. Louis Park. Prior to his trip to Costa Rica, Buettner gave a presentation on longevity to several hundred employees in Allianz’s multimillion-dollar theater. Walking out to the strains of U2, Buettner, himself looking slightly Bono-ish in a wraparound headset and a velvet jacket over an open-collar shirt, asked the crowd, “What if I told you there was a way to add eight good years to the end of your life?”

Here in Costa Rica, Buettner stays on message. He has distilled a few easy-to-remember advisories from the Blue Zones so far, including don’t smoke; put family first; be active every day; stay socially engaged; eat a plant-based diet of fruits, vegetables, legumes, and nuts . . . .