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Nature can be deceiving. To understand it, you’ve got to stop the mad rush of life, smell the proverbial roses, sit calmly and watch.

But nature itself, on a summer’s day, is anything but calm and relaxed. So says biologist Bernd Heinrich in his new book, “Summer World.”

Birds, bees, plants and sharp-toothed mammals stick by a tight schedule. They have hidden agendas and trade secrets. They perform tasks and duties as diligently as any hard-working farmer.

This hour, On Point: The world of summer, with naturalist Bernd Heinrich.

You can join the conversation. Are you paying attention? What’s going on outside your window? Tell us what you think — here on this page, on Twitter, and on Facebook.

-Jane Clayson, guest host

Guest:

Joining us in our studio is Bernd Heinrich, professor emeritus of biology at the University of Vermont and a contributor to Scientific American, American Scientist, Audubon and Outside. He’s the author of many books, including “Winter World: The Ingenuity of Animal Survival.” His new book is “Summer World: A Season of Bounty.”

Read Heinrich’s introduction to “Summer World” (pdf).

West Philly Hybrid X team at the Harley-Davidson Museum.

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Who’s going to design the car of the future? The one that’s affordable, that plugs in, charges up, goes from zero to sixty in under five seconds — and gets 100 miles per gallon? They’re working on it in Detroit, but who knows if the U.S. auto industry will die before the roll out.

So how about a plucky group of inner-city kids from West Philadelphia led by a visionary teacher?

They come from a world of crack houses and gang wars, but they’re winning awards for cutting-edge green auto design.

This hour, On Point: from Philly’s mean streets — inspiration, hope, and maybe, the cars of the future.

You can join the conversation. Have you heard of these smart-as-a-whip kids and their hybrids that are taking all the prizes? What’s your vision for the car of the future? And if this group of students can design the car of the future, why can’t Detroit?

-Anthony Brooks, guest host

Guests:

Simon Hauger, founder and team director of the West Philly Hybrid X Team, which is currently developing an entry in the Progressive Automotive X Prize called the EVX. For the last 14 years, he has taught math and science was an administrator at the Auto Academy at West Philadelphia High School.

Jacques Wells, an 11th grade student at West Philadelphia High School and member of the team. His focus is managing the website and doing design and marketing research for the project.

Marquia Baylor, a 12th grade student at West Philadelphia High School and member of the team. Her focus is marketing for the project.

Ryan Chin, member of MIT Media Lab’s Smart Cities Group. He and his colleagues are building what they call the “car of the future” — a stackable, electric, shared two-passenger city vehicle — in collaboration with General Motors.

More links:

The Hybrid X Team’s site features photos and descriptions of the award-winning cars they have already designed: the K1 Attack, the Electric Saturn SL2, and the Hybrid Jeep Wrangler. You can also watch videos of the cars and the team in action, like this one of the K1 Attack:

Photo: savingspecies.org

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Stuart Pimm tracks extinction, from Madagascar to the Amazon to South Florida, and maybe your backyard. Out in the world where Cuban crocodiles and Indian tarantulas, Caspian seals and Florida panthers are in trouble.

He tracks species one-by-one — panther by panther, antbird by antbird — in the Everglades and Brazilian rain forest. And he tracks the big picture — where, he warns, a quarter, maybe half, of the world’s species could be gone in a century. Maybe half!

But instead of just sounding alarm bells, he’s made a career of figuring out how to bring species back from the brink of extinction. It’s not easy. But from deep rain forest to the halls of power, he’s hard at it.

This hour, On Point: On the front lines of the global battle against species extinction, with ecologist Stuart Pimm.

You can join the conversation. Can you see it happening? Will we change before we strip the planet? Are you working on it?

-Tom Ashbrook

Guest:

Joining us from Durham, North Carolina, is Stuart Pimm. He’s a professor of conservation ecology at Duke University and is one of the world’s leading experts in the process of extinction. He and his students are active in the United States and on six continents and Madagascar, tracking species in their last days and finding ways to saves them. He is the founder of a project called Saving Species. He is the winner of many awards and distinctions, notably the the Heineken Prize for Environmental Sciences, known as the “Nobel Prize” of the ecology world.

More links:

The Saving Species website explains the organization’s mission and offers details of projects it has supported, including the Golden Lion Tamarin in Brazil and the Greater Bamboo Lemur project in Madagascar.

Saving Species produces public service announcements, like this one, on YouTube:

The Senate debates a global warming bill this week — and its backers say it’s made to save the planet.

It is huge legislation that would cap CO2 emissions and — to fight climate change — would radically reshape the US economy and energy use.

No one thinks it’s going to pass this year. But Barack Obama and John McCain both favor something like it. Action is coming.

Critics say it will cripple the American economy — put us on a par with Haiti and Somalia. Backers say we must do it, and it won’t break the bank.

This hour, On Point: Climate crunch time, and the urgent economics of saving the planet.

-Tom Ashbrook

Guests:

Andrew Revkin, environment reporter for The New York Times, he writes the paper’s Dot Earth blog and is author of “The North Pole Was Here: Puzzles and Perils at the Top of the World.”

William Nordhaus, professor of economics, Yale University, member of the President’s Council of Economic Advisers in the Carter Administration and author of the new book “A Question of Balance: Weighing the Options on Global Warming Policies.”

Joseph Romm, senior fellow at the Center for American Progress and editor of climateprogress.org, he was a top official at the Department of Energy in the Clinton Administration. He is author of “Hell and High Water: Global Warming–The Solution and The Politics.”

The Irrawaddy delta in Myanmar is underwater, thousands dead, and environmentalists say it’s global warming. Monster tornadoes are plaguing the U.S. — last weekend in Missouri, Oklahoma and Georgia.

Meanwhile, far away, on the west coast of Alaska, the tiny fishing village of Kivalina is falling into the sea. And its attorneys are suing 24 oil, coal and electric companies, saying their emissions are responsible.

Sound crazy? These same attorneys fought over Big Tobacco, and Big Tobacco lost.

This hour, On Point: the courts and climate change.

-Tom Ashbrook

Guests:

Juliet Eilperin, environment and national politics reporter for The Washington Post.

Steve Susman, co-lead counsel in the case of “Native Village of Kivalina and City of Kivalina v. Exxon Mobil,” founding partner at the law firm Susman Godfrey, and former lawyer for Philip Morris.

Steve Berman, co-lead counsel in “Native Village of Kivalina and City of Kivalina v. Exxon Mobil”, managing partner at Hagens, Berman, Sobol & Shapiro, and former anti-tobacco lawyer.

Enoch Adams Jr., chairman of the Kivalina Relocation Planning Committee.

Jeffrey R. Holmstead, former assistant administrator for air and radiation at the United States Environmental Protection Agency and head of the environmental strategies group at the law firm of Bracewell and Giuliani.

Warming in last decades has pushed spring forward — cherry blossom and lilac festivals across the country now celebrated days earlier than ever before. It also means birds are laying eggs earlier than before, or — sometimes — not at all.

It’s this kind of subtle mistiming that could spell disaster for our environment, jeopardizing the bees, birds, frogs and trees, and pushing them into extinction.

Now, more scientists than ever are involved at tracking the changes, and involving citizens — or amateur scientists — to gather data across the country.

This hour, On Point: on Earth Day, we’re talking about global warning’s effect on spring’s timing.

-Jane Clayson

Guests:

Heidi Cullen, climate expert at the Weather Channel and host of “The Climate Code with Dr. Heidi Cullen.”

Andre Dhondt, ornithologist at Cornell University.

Jake F. Weltzin, Executive Director, USA National Phenology Network.

A thousand years ago, from the pueblos of the American southwest to what’s now Cambodia to the wheat fields of northern Europe, the world was in the midst of a great warming.

The years from around 800 to 1300 were a balmy time for some. The Vikings roamed the seas. Europe had lovely long summers.

But for the Mayans of the Yucatan, the Khmer of Cambodia, the pueblo people of Arizona, and more, the great Medieval warm-up was a disaster.

This hour, On Point: the great global warming of a thousand years ago, and what it tells us today.

-Tom Ashbrook

Guests:

Brian Fagan, professor emeritus of anthropology at the University of California, Santa Barbara, and author of the new book “The Great Warming: Climate Change and the Rise and Fall of Civilizations.”

Jonathan T. Overpeck, director of the Institute for the Planet Earth at the University of Arizona.

Half of all electricity in America is generated from coal. As oil wanes and world energy demand grows, coal’s role is destined to only grow bigger.

The problem is, coal is dirty. Carbon dioxide emissions from coal-fired power plants are a major contributor to global warming.

Five years ago, the Bush administration announced what it called one of the boldest steps the nation has ever taken toward a pollution-free energy future. A big project to bury CO2 in the earth — forever. Last week, it pulled the plug.

This hour, On Point: clean coal dreams in trouble, and what that means for the environment and the economy.

-Tom Ashbrook

Guests:

Keith Johnson, reporter for The Wall Street Journal and lead writer on the paper’s “Environmental Capital” blog.

Howard Herzog, principle research engineer at MIT’s Laboratory for Energy and the Environment.

Jeff Goodell, author of “Big Coal: The Dirty Secret Behind America’s Energy Future.”

Climate change is on the table this week at the world conference in Bali, Indonesia, and on Capitol Hill in Washington, D.C.

But as the politicians haggle over much-needed climate policy, scientists and venture capitalists, students and inventors, are looking to give us an extreme energy makeover: pursuing breakthroughs in everything from biofuels to green buildings, solar energy to smart grids.

It’s said that technology alone can’t get us out of our climate mess. But neither, they say, can politicians. It’s going to take both.

This hour, On Point: climate change politics and the race to innovate.

-Jacki Lyden

Guests:

Juliet Eilperin, environment and national politics reporter for The Washington Post.

Ron Pernick, co-founder of Clean Edge, a research and consulting firm, and co-author of “The Clean Tech Revolution.”

Daniel Enderton, a Ph.D. candidate in climate physics and chemistry at M.I.T. and co-president of the M.I.T. Energy Club.

John O’Donnell, executive vice president for Ausra, a clean technology company based in Palo Alto, Calif., that focuses on solar power.

Bill Green, managing director at Vantage Point Venture Partners, a venture capital firm with a portfolio of 16 clean tech companies.