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“My name is Edith Abeyta.”
The word ‘question’ was tattooed across the backs of her fingers, which shook slightly as she spoke.
“I live in North Braddock. I live in a sacrifice zone. I live in a dystopia.”
A collection of engineers, scientists and officials from the U.S. Department of Energy [DOE] peered back at her, seated in a conference room at an agency-sponsored carbon capture workshop at Hazelwood Green in December.
“You may ask: How did I get here? Why is it that I am standing here talking to you today?”
Edith, a professional artist and self-described “activist for imagination,” has led grassroots advocacy in her community since 2014. She successfully organized to stop bids to frack at U.S. Steel’s Edgar Thomson Works and at the