World leaders in Paris may have lauded the future of renewable energy, but in small-town America, all that solar hocus-pocus is still viewed with a healthy dose of slack-jawed cynicism.
The good burghers of Woodland, North Carolina, have successfully torpedoed plans for a solar farm, arguing the panels would suck up all the sun's energy, cause cancer and drive young people out of town.
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Local councillors initially voted to reject a rezoning application that would have allowed the Strata Solar Company to build the farm near a highway north of Woodland, the Roanoke-Chowan News-Herald reported.
But then they went further, supporting a complete moratorium on new solar farms, after residents made their opposition crystal clear.
Jane Mann, a retired science teacher, reportedly told the council meeting she was concerned the panels would prevent photosynthesis and so stop the growth of nearby plants.
She said she had seen areas near solar panels where the plants were brown and dead due to lack of sunlight - a claim rejected by Brent Niemann, a representative of the Strata Solar Company.
"The panels don't draw additional sunlight," he said.
But Ms Mann went on to question the higher number of cancer deaths in the area and said it could not be proved that solar panels did not cause cancer, the newspaper said.
"I want information. Enough is enough. I don't see the profit for the town," she said. "People come with hidden agendas. Until we can find if anything is going to damage this community, we shouldn't sign any paper."
The Woodland area is popular with solar companies because it has an electrical substation that can be used to connect the electricity to the power grid, the newspaper reported.
But complainants to the council only forecast pain, not gain. Bobby Mann, understood to be Mrs Mann's husband, said other communities had withered after solar farms were installed.
"You're killing your town," he said. "All the young people are going to move out."
Another resident, Mary Hobbs, reportedly told councillors the value of her land had decreased because it was surrounded by solar farms. (The council had previously approved three.)
Councillors ultimately voted 3-1 against the proposed rezoning.
Australia is, of course, no stranger to the full breadth of arguments deployed against renewable energy.
Deposed prime minister Tony Abbott once disparaged wind turbines as noisy, ugly and "visually awful", while former treasurer Joe Hockey called them "utterly offensive".
Speaking after the conclusion of the weekend's landmark climate deal in Paris, US Secretary of State John Kerry said the most important element of the talks was transformation to a clean energy future.
"The business community of the entire world is receiving a message about countries now moving towards clean, alternative, renewable energy and trying to reduce their carbon footprint," he said.