[2][3] He co-produced the 3 time Emmy Award winning[4] documentary TV mini series Live to 100: Secrets of the Blue Zones (2023) based on his book of the same name and holds three Guinness records for distance cycling.

Later he took a job with National Public Radio in Washington, D.C., to recruit celebrity participation in a fund-raising croquet tournament with journalist George Plimpton of Paris Review.

[full citation needed] In 1992, in "Africatrek", the Buettner brothers team-cycled from Bizerte, Tunisia, to Cape Agulhas, South Africa, with cyclist Dr. Chip Thomas, covering 11,885 miles (19,127 km) over eight months.

[17] Buettner reported on communities with increased longevity, identified as a blue zone, in his cover story for National Geographic Magazine's November 2005 edition, "Secrets of Long Life.

"[18] In 2006, under aegis of National Geographic, Buettner collaborated with Michel Poulain and Costa Rican demographer Dr. Luis Rosero-Bixby to identify a fourth longevity hotspot in the Nicoya Peninsula.

[19] In April 2015, Buettner published The Blue Zones Solution: Eating and Living Like the World's Healthiest People, which listed Ikaria (in Greece), Okinawa (Japan), Sardinia (Italy), Loma Linda (California), and Costa Rica as the places with top longevity.

[25] In 2008, inspired by Finland's North Karelia Project,[26][independent source needed] Buettner designed a plan to apply his Blue Zones principles to an American town.

[citation needed] 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.

[28][independent source needed] In 2018, Klamath Falls was recognized by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation (RWJF) as the "Culture of Health" prize winner[32] In 2023, Buettner co-produced and featured in a TV mini series Live to 100: Secrets of the Blue Zones.