Your ideas are intriguing to me, and I wish to subscribe to your newsletter.

Many people who aren’t vegan still choose free range eggs, organic beef, fair trade coffee and chocolate.

The 500 mile diet is absolutely a moral choice, even if it includes meat.

Albertans preferentially eating large amounts of Alberta beef is viewed as a virtue there. Veganism is viewed as immoral, unalbertan (amongst some communities).

What “other side”? Vegans? I suppose there are some who are just sort of “cultural vegans” too, where they don’t have a moral stance, but are vegan because their friends or family are.

I’m not sure if maybe you’re reading more negativity in my comment than I meant. There’s certainly nothing wrong with animal welfare as a moral stance.

Veganism at its core is a moral stance. If not for the moral issues, these people would probably be vegetarian instead. That’s not to say that all vegans are the aggressive evangelist kind, but pretty much all vegans choose their diet out of moral concerns (in addition to health and environmental reasons).

Climate control actually is critical, since fogging/frosting of the windshield is a thing.

Canada has fewer guns per person than the US, but still many more than most countries. I think there are a couple of other differences though. The types of guns are very different. Handguns are extremely restricted, and ownership is rare. Many (most?) semi auto rifles are either prohibited or restricted, and there are mag limits (5 rounds) for all centrefire rifles. This doesn’t exactly prevent people from committing shootings, but a lot fewer people have those types of guns because they’re kind of a pain in the ass get, store, and use. Safe storage is legally required, and much more encouraged by the gun-owning community.

The other factor might be what guns are used for in Canada. Concealed carry is practically non-existent, open carry is severely restricted, and while self-defence with a firearm is technically legal, ownership for that purpose pretty much isn’t.