This article introduces factors contributing significantly to climate
change that have been largely neglected in both the scientific and
popular press. These factors have immediate implications for public
policy directed at slowing, halting and even reversing climate change
and its effects. This article argues that in addition to the known
contributions made by greenhouse gasses, climate change is also driven
by shifts in the patterns of global atmospheric circulation which are
influenced by persistent, large-scale vortices caused by the wake
turbulence left by commercial air traffic. Because this traffic is
highly concentrated along the most frequently traveled routes, the
vortices aircraft create have transformed into semi-permanent
atmospheric circulation which have widespread effects on how the
atmosphere traps and releases heat. It is also possible that these
changes alter the loss of water from the atmosphere. This would endanger
all life on earth, not just the human population.