According to the study published in the October issue of Environmental Health Perspectives, the higher a mother’s BPA levels were during the first 16 weeks of pregnancy, the more likely kids were to exhibit the behavior changes. Girls were more aggressive and hyperactive than the norm while boys were more anxious and withdrawn.

The study also examined the effects of a mom’s exposure to lead and cigarettes, oddly enough neither one was linked to toddler behavior changes.

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Paul Allen, the co-founder of Microsoft, is funding conservationists who are developing a bio-barier based on chemicals identified in the urine of the African Wild Dog. The barrier would be used to manage the movement of dog packs and possibly become a model for similar systems for other endangered species.

In the middle of the 20th Century, the African Wild Dog (Lycaon pictus) was common throughout sub saharan Africa. There were estimated to be 500,000 dogs in 39 countries, and packs of 100 or more were not uncommon. Today there are only 3,000-5,500 in fewer than 25 countries, primarily in eastern and southern Africa.

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Notorious B.I.G.’s “more money more problems” way of thinking may not be true for male chimpanzees looking to mate. It turns out that male chimps who bring home the bacon–so to speak–have twice as much sex over the long term. This, despite meat making up only 1.4% of the diets of wild chimps.

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A 3-year study focusing on 35,000 children, parents and professionals, claims British children are less happy than those in almost any other developed country.

The aggressive pursuit of individual success by adults today is the greatest threat to our children….There is unease about the unprecedented speed with which children’s lives are changing; the commercial pressures they face; the violence they are exposed to; the rising stresses of school; the increased emotional distress they feel.

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A while back, I pondered the mystery of why mice won’t eat the outer shell of a peanut M&M. Perhaps mice know something we don’t? You may agree after reading about an elementary school experiment with mice and junk food.

Each year, Sister Luigi Frigo’s second grade class in Cudahy, Wisconsin feeds two sets of mice a different diet for four days. One set eats highly processed foods that are typical of school cafeterias, 80 percent of which still sell fast food or junk food items. The other mice where fed a diet based on whole foods.

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The poll — for which The Nature Conservancy provided input and advice — found that 53% of those surveyed have taken steps to green their lives.

But it also found a substantial lack of knowledge about how to go green — and skepticism about whether greening one’s life makes a difference to the environment:

• 34% of those surveyed said they hadn’t changed their lifestyle because they “did not know what to do.”
• 29% of respondents believe that greening their lifestyle won’t make any significant difference on the environment.

“This poll shows that green living is certainly at the forefront of our minds,” says Stephanie Meeks, the Conservancy’s acting president and CEO.

“Yet people are getting lost in the maze of information on how to lessen our environmental impact. The bottom line is that even the smallest lifestyle change can have significant impact in the long run.”

Recycling and Paying Bills Online, But Not Changing Light Bulbs

While recycling is widespread in the United States and 73% of those polled are paying their bills online to save paper, other often-recommended ways to green your life are going largely ignored:

• 5% are driving less by combining errands, walking more, etc.
• 4% have reduced their utility use.
• 3% have purchased hybrid cars.
• 3% have changed out incandescent light bulbs for compact fluorescent ones.

Yet if every American home switched out just one incandescent light bulb for a compact fluorescent one, the United States would save enough energy to light more than 3 million homes for an entire year, according to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and the Department of Energy.

“Making small changes to help save the planet can help your pocketbook as well,” adds Meeks. “In the case of compact fluorescent light bulbs, you’re paying more on the front end, but the cost savings in the long run will beat out the incandescent bulbs, hands down.”

Other poll results:

• 49% are trying to buy locally-produced food and/or goods.
• 47% are buying green household products.
• 39% are bringing their own reusable bags to stores instead of using paper or plastic.
• 16% are carpooling.

Optimism on Environmental Issues

The poll also found noticeable optimism on environmental issues among the American public. Seventy-two% of the poll’s 2,605 respondents believe their personal actions are significant to the health of the environment.

And although only 42% of U.S. adults were initially familiar with the phrase “environmental sustainability,” two-thirds believe that it is possible to live in an environmentally sustainable way.

The phrase “environmental sustainability” was more familiar to younger poll respondents than older ones. More than 45% of those age 18-43 understood the term’s meaning, while only 30% of those aged 63 and older knew the term.

The Nature Conservancy Helps You Go Green

To help cut through all the noise, The Nature Conservancy offers easy ways to make science-based green changes in your life:

• Check out our Everyday Environmentalist home page to find a list of innovative and easy changes you can make to help save the planet.
• Use the Conservancy’s carbon footprint calculator to determine your carbon footprint — and find simple ways to reduce it.
• Consider offsetting your carbon emissions by participating in The Conservancy’s voluntary carbon offset program.

Now, for the first time, scientists have observed long-tailed macaques fishing with their bare hands.

Nature Conservancy scientist Erik Meijaard and other researchers are the first to scientifically document this rare conduct. In a recent article published in the International Journal of Primatology, Meijaard and his coauthors say that, while conducting field studies in Indonesia, they have repeatedly observed long-tailed macaques catching fish from fast-flowing rivers.

“This is interesting behavior and some of the first observations of primates catching fish,” says Meijaard, the Conservancy’s senior ecologist in Indonesia.

A Very Hungry Monkey?

In the first sighting back in 1998, researchers describe seeing five female macaques sitting alongside the Ketambe River in the Indonesian province of North Sumatra.

The macaques’ eyes scanned the water. After about three minutes, one of the macaques reached into the river. With her bare hands, she pulled out a fish and quickly ate it. Other macaques watched her — and one even tried unsuccessfully to catch a fish herself.

“Clearly it may raise the question of whether there is some sort of learning going on,” says Meijaard. “If perhaps a couple of generations back, one primate caught a fish and it was subsequently copied.”

Researchers documented a similar sighting in 2006 in a separate macaque population in the Lesan Conservation Area, a Nature Conservancy program site in East Kalimantan, Indonesia. There, on two separate occasions, a macaque was observed swiftly grasping a fish out of the shallows before retreating into the forest with the fish still in its mouth.

While the fishing macaque sighting in Lesan coincided with a time of low fruit availability, Meijaard is hesitant to blame the fishing behavior on resource scarcity or draw conclusions about its meaning.

“It might be nothing more than a hungry monkey who is smart enough to extract nutrients from its environment,” he says.

Protecting Indonesia’s Forests

Meijaard is also the Kalimantan coordinator for the USAID-funded Orangutan Conservation Services Program.

But he says that forests — not macaques or orangutans — are the Conservancy’s real focus.

The Conservancy is fighting an ongoing battle to protect the forests around the Lesan Conservation Area. These forests, which harbor a substantial orangutan population, are slated to be destroyed for agriculture and plantations.

The Conservancy is working around the clock to convince local communities and governments to instead consider their long-term economic needs and put the forests into permanent, sustainable management.

“Macaques and orangutans are neat symbols, but they’re not going to convince people here,” Meijaard says. “What we need is data that shows the microeconomic implications of forest conversion.”

“Depending on the decisions made now, the forest could be around forever, or it could be gone forever by next year.”

Bring it up in conversation. Find opportunities to drop your green success stories. If your friends are complaining about gas prices, tell them how much your hybrid saves you on gas. If they’re complaining about their electric bill, tell them how much you saved by installing new windows, or that Energy Star AC.

Share your simple tips too, such as washing your clothes on cold or how you unplug your cell phone charger. You probably already swap tips on how to do other things around the house, why stop short of green? Or if you’re out and about with your friends, whip out that canvas shopping bag or that coffee mug you take everywhere, and explain why you bring your own (then give them their own to try out.)

Explain the financial savings. If you can, break down the costs to show how much money someone will save, especially if it translates into near-term savings.

Give green gifts. Whatever the occasion, give an eco-friendly gift. Many green products have a story behind them. Share that story when your gift is opened, or explain the benefits of the product.

Start simple. GO’s Shane Jordan wrote about "How To Give Your Parents ‘The Talk’". He suggests starting simple with just one thing, such as recycling, then providing the tools needed to begin making change, such as a recycling bin.

Shane also writes, "Most importantly, don’t be confrontational. Make suggestions, not demands." On the same note, tread lightly on the gloom and doom factor. Taking the approach, "if you don’t do it we’ll all die," isn’t a very effective way of getting people to act. And don’t be pushy or condescending as that is another big turn off.

Celebrate success. If your friends start showing you the CFL’s in their place, congratulate them. Soon they’ll be sharing all their newfound green knowledge with you.

Have you got your family or friends to switch over to some green ways? How’d you do it?

Amy says: Friends of mine had an out of town visitor who was so impressed by their adamant recycling behavior that when they went to visit her, she apologized for not recycling, but said that she had recently ordered a recycling bin.

Grist: How to Talk to a Climate Skeptic

GO: How to Give Your Parents "The Talk"

GO: Let’s Talk About It!: Green Quandaries