The endangered butterfly has become an ideal  insect for scientists measuring the damage of climate change

A new study published in Ecological Entomology shows some species of butterflies adapt much better than others to warming temperatures, especially in mountain landscapes.

Which are most at risk? It appears butterfly species which emerge later in the year or fly higher in the different elevations of a mountain range in central Spain have evolved to reproduce in a shorter window of time, and as a result, may fare worse than those that emerge over a longer period of time.

Summer battles are heating up in California over an $11.1 billion water bond.

You can lead taxpayers to a bloated water bond but you can’t make them drink  – even if you color coat the controversial measure as the Safe, Clean and Reliable Drinking Water Supply Act of 2012. EcoSalon first reported on this important environmental issue in 2010 when it was first to be on the ballot. But Prop 18 was delayed until the November election by Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger who didn’t want to jeopardize its passage.

Restored vintage resorts in and around Palm Springs are booked up despite scorching heat.

The seasonal exodus to and from Palm Springs is grinding to a near halt this time of year, as temperatures climb to 110 and even beyond.

Things have never looked brighter in summer. Sure, it can be hard to move vigorously at peak heat hours but visitors are getting around the intense rays and seizing good room and travel rates at highly desirable hot spots. Booking rooms well after the spring break deluge are singles and families who are finding the air can be therapeutic and the golf and swimming spectacular if you play by the rules.

California teens wonder where the race to nowhere ends and summer begins.

California high schools have let out for a couple of months but for many teens it’s just more of the same in skimpier clothing.

Afternoons at AT&T Park waving a goofy foam finger or baking on the sands of Zuma Beach are rare additions to hectic schedules calculated to give them a leg up. Sure, a short family cruise might be squeezed into June – but on deck they must tackle that required summer reading list and plug into something more constructive than Facebook or else rock the boat.

How super-sized cruise ships add to the oil crisis.

Recent news that the 2,600 passenger Grand Princess cruise ship will be docked in San Francisco one year from now has unleashed a titanic blast of excitement. Naturally, the thrill of thousands of passengers and crew routinely disembarking at the pier is music to the ears of struggling retailers and restaurateurs. In the meantime, avid cruise fans enticed by dramatic discounts can sail from the Bay and save on airfare for voyages to Alaska, Hawaii, Mexico and the California coast.

How state laws designed to make hospitals earthquake proof are threatening services, forging mergers and jerking costs of care.

As a 2013 deadline looms for meeting the first set of standards of seismic compliance, hundreds of California hospitals ordered to retrofit their buildings are pleading for extensions. The majority of them are facing a lending crunch during the unyielding recession: How will they possibly secure billions in funding needed to get their buildings up to code by 2020?

The who’s-who of break out California artists making waves.

Venice Beach has its colonies, Santa Monica a bevy of industry collectors and downtown L.A. is in full- throttle renaissance mode. So why wouldn’t edgy artists transplant themselves to southern California? Even down the choked 405 south in San Diego and up north to the Bay Area, alternative galleries are willing to market new genius to upscale collectors. Aggressive marketing, word of mouth and shows delivering meet-ups get those artists on the map in the sunny gallery terrain beyond eastern Mary Boone country.

Here are 10 notables stirring attention:

Restoration Hardware is going out on a limb for spring with a line that speaks to modern minimalism.

Meander into Restoration Hardware’s highly architectural, bare bones showroom at the San Francisco Design Center, and you will be puzzled by what has been added as well as subtracted as the retailer keeps devising new algorithms for tweaking and modernizing its line.