people who live in cold environments send WAAAY more pollutants into the air than AC units and their electrical draw
where are you getting your information?
Analyses of home-energy use reveal that we use more energy to heat our homes (41.7 million BTUs per year, on average, at a cost of $631) than to cool them (7.8 million BTUs, at $276).
homeowners in cold states like Minnesota were putting out 20 to 25 percent more carbon dioxide through the use of their heaters than were the A/C-happy folks in Florida.
Source
and not everyone has A/C, but everyone has heating.
Eighty-seven percent of American homes now have air conditioners, up from 68 percent in 1993,
I actually found those numbers kind of shocking, because where i grew up in upstate NY, people just didn't have AC. My brother has since moved back to (a different part of) upstate NY, bought a large NEWish house on six acres, and STILL doesn't have AC.
But it appears your numbers are correct.
I did find this interesting. Shoutout to Sweetcell:
Ninety one percent of American households had central air or window units in 2019, according to the Census Bureau. But of the largest 15 metro areas, Seattle had the fewest homes with air conditioning, at 44%. Around 22% of Seattle households have central air, while 15% have air conditioning in no more than one room.