National Geographic Fellow Promotes Scientific Approach to Happiness and Longevity

Telluride, Colorado (February 21, 2012) – New York Times bestselling author Dan Buettner will speak at Mountainfilm in Telluride’s annual festival this May 25 to 28. Buettner, also a National Geographic Fellow and internationally recognized researcher, authored Blue Zones:  Lessons for Living Longer from the People Who’ve Lived the Longest (2008), in which he identified five cultures where people live the longest and analyzed why people in these regions live such healthy lives. Blue Zones, as well as a second book Thrive: Finding Happiness the Blue Zones Way (2010), were both featured on “The Oprah Winfrey Show.”

In 2009, Dan Buettner partnered with AARP to apply the principles of Blue Zones to Albert Lea, Minnesota, and successfully raised life expectancy and lowered health care costs by 40 percent there.  He’s currently working with Healthways to implement the program in targeted Los Angeles communities.

"We’ve been talking about having Dan Buettner at Mountainfilm in Telluride for several years,” said David Holbrooke, Mountainfilm in Telluride’s festival director, “and with our 2012 focus on population, he’s a perfect fit. By traveling around the world to study longevity, he’s come to understand how people experience not only a long life, but a happy and productive one, as well." Buettner’s second book addresses some of the themes of happiness that have been explored at Mountainfilm in Telluride recently with such films as I Am and Happy. Holbrooke predicts that Buettner can “crystallize some of the life lessons from those films, while also looking at the issue from a scientific perspective."

Buettner joins an exciting roster of Mountainfilm in Telluride guests that includes, among others, filmmaker Ken Burns, world-famous climber Chris Sharma, wildlife photographer Joe Riis, Earth First! co-founder Dave Foreman and ecologist and author Sandra Steingraber. For more information about this year’s festival, visit http://www.mountainfilm.org. Early Bird passes to the 2012 event are available now at www.mountainfilm.org/festival-passes-tickets.

About Mountainfilm in Telluride: Established in 1979, Mountainfilm in Telluride is dedicated to educating and inspiring audiences about environments, cultures, issues and adventures. Working at the nexus of filmmaking and action, its flagship program is the legendary Mountainfilm Festival — a one-of-a-kind combination of films, conversations and inspiration. Mountainfilm also reaches audiences year round through its worldwide tour, on Outside Television, with its online Minds of Mountainfilm interviews and in classrooms through its educational outreach initiative, Making Movies That Matter. Mountainfilm has the power to change lives. To learn more, visit www.mountainfilm.org. To join the conversation, please visit the Mountainfilm in Telluride blog, follow us on Twitter and become a fan on Facebook.