Global warming

I read that when Toms river froze
Young men in beaver coats then drove
Across the bay to Island Heights.
And there was harvesting of ice.
But now the river always flows.

Vaccines, fresh food, clean drink, warm clothes
- brought to the town by trucks and roads -
these things have saved five million lives -
I read that.

While, far away in Mango groves,
where both the heat and waters rose,
and on the plains with drought and blights,
famines, fires, mosquito bites,
these things have cost five million souls.
I read that.