Originally published by Deceleration, a nonprofit online journal producing original news and analysis responding to our shared ecological, political, and cultural crises. Last summer, Jessica Witzel collapsed, convulsed, and died in the unshaded driveway of a San Antonio gas station during one of the hottest days of 2024, itself the hottest year on record in San Antonio. Her death was reported by area media at the time, based on the accounts of first responders, as the likely consequence of the heat dome that blanketed much of the state under excessive heat warnings all that week.