Scientists in Australia report that snow coverage in the Australian Alps has decreased by 30% since 1950s, due to climate change effects causing them to warn that the mountains could be completely devoid of snow by 2050.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/earth/environment/climatechange/8817490/Australian-alps-could-be-snow-free-by-2050.html
http://www.abc.net.au/worldtoday/content/2011/s3335868.htm   


As part of a larger environmental restoration program, the US government in October 2011 allocates funding for a project in the Lake Michigan region that will provide jobs for the unemployed while improving the habitat of endangered butterfly and bird species.

http://yosemite.epa.gov/opa/admpress.nsf/0/dc08f8a8058f6c058525792000716123?OpenDocument
http://www.greenlivingguy.com/greenliving/epa-announces-funding-to-restore-lake-michigan-and-put-peopl.html
http://www.canadianbusiness.com/article/49105--epa-plans-habitat-work-in-huron-manistee-forest
http://www.epa.gov/greatlakes/fund/2011rfa01/

Danish scientists in mid-October 2011 reveal after a decade of research that environmental toxins from industrial activities are being carried through the air and in sea currents to the Arctic, with adverse health effects found in polar bears that include damage to their bones as well as immune and reproductive systems.

http://www.physorg.com/news/2011-10-polar-ill-accumulated-environmental-toxins.html
http://planetsave.com/2011/10/14/25540/