“We are not in the business of saving the planet – the planet will be fine without us. We are in the business of saving ourselves,” said acclaimed political commentator and international war correspondent Gwynne Dyer to a sold-out crowd at Showplace Theatre in Peterborough on November 11.

During his Remembrance Day lecture, Dr. Dyer shared with over 600 members of the Trent and Peterborough communities the lessons he learned from a two-year tour of the climate-change world, interviewing scientists, generals, diplomats and politicians. “I learned rather more than I bargained for,” he said.

Over the course of his two-hour lecture, which also featured a Q&A period, Dr. Dyer spoke about the four conclusions he discovered during his “tour,” which have since also been captured in his newest book, Climate Wars.

“First, this thing is coming at us a whole lot faster than we originally thought,” he said, referencing the fact that scientists and politicians have underestimated the scale of climate change. Second, “the generals are right,” the military will have plenty to keep them busy as global warming cuts into food productions and some countries will suffer much more than others. The next conclusion Dr. Dyer addressed was that there is in fact a point of no return when it comes to climate change and if we pass it, we will lose control of the situation. “If the world gets two degrees warmer, we lose control,” he said. “At that point, natural processes will kick in and take over. We won’t be able to stop it.”

Dr. Dyer’s final conclusion is that, unfortunately, no matter what happens, humanity will most likely pass the point of no return. At that point, we will have to get creative, perhaps implementing new geo-engineering processes and experiments. “We can cheat,” Dr. Dyer said.

Despite the seemingly dark outlook on climate change, Dr. Dyer said that he is ultimately more optimistic than he was when he first started out on his climate change world tour.

“I believe we are capable of being reasonable,” he said. “We just have to get our heads around the responsibilities and roles we have to play…ultimately, the solution doesn’t require more inventions, it requires more political will.”

Originally trained as a historian, Dr. Dyer has worked as a freelance journalist, columnist, broadcaster and lecturer on international affairs for more than 20 years. He served in three navies and held academic appointments at the Royal Military Academy Sandhurst and Oxford University before launching his twice-weekly column on international affairs, which is published by over 175 papers in some 45 countries.

The Remembrance Day talk was Dr. Dyer’s fourth visit to Trent University and Peterborough. In October 2001 he spoke about the origins and likely course of the War on Terrorism following the events of September 11; in January 2004, he spoke about current issues of terrorism, global division, and the problems with American and British policies after Iraq and in November 2006, he spoke about the emerging power of China and the shift in global influence from the U.S. and its allies in the West to Asia.

The public lecture was sponsored by the Colleges at Trent University.