A Family’s Journey to Sustainable Living
By NaTyshca Pickett
Quita Jackson (Center) and Family. Photo Credit: Eden Grace Photos
Going green and living off the grid has been a trend over the last couple of years. There are popular television shows such as Tiny Living and Container Homes, where people are doing their part to leave less of a carbon footprint. Meet Quita Jackson.
After retiring as a Producer from ABC 15 for 20 years, she and her family decided to focus their efforts on green living and their business Green Desert. Jackson and her family had been practicing this lifestyle for a while. She grew and made her own baby food for her sons, who are now 14 and 18 years of age.
So, it came as no surprise when she started making videos to encourage others to take on more of a green lifestyle. "I started out with gardening after experiencing deaths in my family. Most of those deaths came due to health issues. I wanted something different for my family and I, so we started with just the basics and planting the fruits and vegetables that we like and from there it progressed to having chickens and preserving rain water and etc.,”
Holding Fresh Vegetables from the family garden.
Jackson stated. The goal of Green Desert is to make a self sufficient lifestyle with zero waste practical for society. They explore these principles in a sustainable residential home in the city and an off grid tiny home in Texas.
Jackson stated that some of the reasons many decide to shy away from a full sustainable lifestyle is due to the amount of work that is involved, this can also lead to myths and misconceptions about this way of living. “Many feel that they have to do a lot at once, but all it takes is starting small, like recycling and then you can take small steps to reach the overall goal of living a green life.”
Quita Jackson and Family - Photo Credit: Eden Grace Photos
"It's Our Job to Leave Less of a Carbon Footprint"
On the Green Desert’s website, there is video documentation of Jackson and her family’s journey of converting a storage container into a tiny home. “Here in Phoenix, we’re not totally zero waste, although that is the goal we are going towards.
The containers gave us the opportunity to take that lifestyle to a whole new level. I had just retired, and it also gave me an opportunity to hone my producer skills. The land in Texas, where we put these containers had been with my family for over 100 years. So that was huge. It was awesome for us to go back to restore the land,” stated Jackson.
Although this lifestyle may be hard to understand for some, Jackson knew that this was the best choice for her family and the life they wanted to live. “We learned a long time ago that we knew what was best for us and that this was something we wanted. We knew that we had to lead by example and stop letting society and other people deter us and get it done. The more we did, the more inspired we were, which then inspired others,” Jackson said.
One initiative that Green Desert is working on is collaborating with local schools to help plant community gardens on the school grounds. “I think having a garden in the school will do so much for every age group.
They will get to see the work they have done and be a part of something great,” Jackson said. According to Jackson, the overall goal is to encourage, inspire and inform people about the benefits of living a simpler lifestyle. “The overall goal is to be resourceful. " "We don’t want to force anyone to live our lifestyle, but we do encourage everyone to leave less of a footprint and protect our natural environment,” Jackson stated. To learn more you can visit Green Desert.