Discussions of just transitions—that is, equitable energy and socio-economic transitions from fossil fuels to renewables—focus largely on technical and regulatory questions. But just transitions must also involve the critical and literary insights of humanities scholars into the ways culture has mediated the desires, affects and community formations generated by fossil fuel reliant societies, such as popular representations of the “freedom” associated with open roads. The point of this critical-literary questioning is to unpick what cultural imaginaries or narrative apparatuses might aid in generating a sustainable and just post-fossil fuel society, particularly with the advent of renewables. Any future energy transition must necessitate transforming the whole of “nature-society” through new cultural forms that reframe how we perceive collective ways of organising and participating in radically altered socio-ecological landscapes.