Austell got a little greener on Saturday, March 23 with the planting of a food forest at South Cobb Recreation Center.

The event also doubled as the Roots of Resilience Program kickoff, which is being facilitated through RCE Greater Atlanta — a functional network of United Nations University that seeks to advance the sustainable development goals throughout Metro Atlanta.

Bethany Mashini, executive director of the nonprofit My Green Earth, which aims to advance and empower sustainable lifestyles throughout Cobb, spent time living in Boston. After she returned to Georgia, she realized there were many measures that could be taken to live more sustainably.

“[Sustainable living] is not the ethos yet, but it will be over time,” Mashini said, adding that the sustainability community in Atlanta feels tight-knit because it’s not as widespread yet as it could be.

Dajawn Williams, a sustainability specialist at Kennesaw State University, agreed with Mashini, adding that the energy is shifting.

“You can feel the momentum and the “want” and passion from our community to make this a new lifestyle,” Williams said. “It’s a slow progress, but it’s definitely progressing toward that point.”

Part of the reason for choosing this project in Austell, located in South Cobb, is that the area historically has been considered a food desert — areas without reliable access to fresh, healthy food. These areas typically don’t have access to good transportation to get to fresh food in a convenient manner, either.

That’s why partnering with the Austell Community Task Force, which runs the existing Riverside Community Garden on the property, made so much sense.

Williams also said he actually had no experience at all with food forests prior to joining the team at KSU about seven months ago.

“I didn’t know anything about food forests, didn’t know that this was an idea or concept that people were putting out into…