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Some of the claims about the economics and environmental impacts of green energy might seem a lot more credible were it not for the dodgy evasiveness of the green movement’s leaders when confronted by their often apparent double standards.

Perhaps the hardest hit in Planet of the Humans is McKibben, legendary green activist who some years ago threw his support behind adopting biomass — especially woodchips from newly logged forests in the United States — as a substitute for coal. Cornered and questioned at a rally about his support for the burning of biomass, McKibben weasels his way through an evasive answer before walking away from Gibbs’ questions. Later, Gibbs shows McKibben delivering a keynote speech in support of biomass.

The Sierra Club, in its Beyond Coal campaign, became another official proponent of biomass, which Gibbs describes as “getting out of bed with coal companies and into bed with logging companies.”

McKibben also hilariously flubs his way through an interview in which he is asked to divulge the sources of 350.org’s funding. Oh, gee, I dunno, he says. I don’t keep track of such things. He then mentions some obscure German funder. Only under prodding does he admit that, well, yeah the Rockefeller and the Pew foundations are major backers.

One of my favourite scenes involves General Motors executives at the unveiling of the automaker’s first electric vehicle, the Chevy Volt, at a plant site in Lansing, Mich. Gibbs is on hand to ask about the source of the electricity to power the Volt. Where does it come from? The GM official says it comes from the power source flowing through the adjacent building. But what is the source of the power? Gee, I don’t know, says the GM official. It could be a bit of coal, but I think it’s natural gas. Gibbs then interviews a local Lansing official who concedes, in the end, that 95 per cent of local electricity comes from coal.