It suggests the behaviour is motivated by the desire to trick a bunch of unsophisticated rubes into doing something they are too stupid to realize is a good idea for ideological reasons. Seems pretty insulting to me.

Agreed... But is it implausible?

Aren't the people who roll coal and hate green energy a bunch of unsophisticated rubes?

No more unsophisticated than the rubes that spend 20 minutes washing their zip lock bags "to do their part for the environment" and then hop on an airplane an generate more emissions than throwing out a lifetime's worth of plastic bags in a couple of hours.

You're missing the fact that the people who roll coal also often hop on airplanes.