How can dreams for just futures take flight in universities with colonial legacies that celebrate diversity but silence academics of colour who seek to be more than “institutional ornaments” and “quiet achievers?”

This article argues that the storying of fossiliferous geological strata opens up geopolitical possibilities for climate justice and ethical energy futures. Our more-than-human approach to the fossil-fuel industry and more specifically coal trade is sparked by ongoing political controversies and protests that have erupted over the development of the Galilee coal Basin in central Queensland, Australia by Indian mining conglomerates.