Sustainability &

Quarantine
Tips & Activities for Being
Greener While at Home.
Introduction & table of Contents

Intro
There are many ways to quarantine (or at least live life close to home) during the
COVID-19 pandemic. We, the Global Shapers of Washington D.C., encourage you to
think about using your quarantine to instill new planet-friendly habits, finding new
ways to be just a little kinder to the environment regardless of the square footage of
the space you call home. If the content of this resource resonates with you, please
feel free to pass it on. We encourage you to view this document online, rather than
printing it out, but we have included some small printable aspects at the end: a
guide to regrowing vegetables from scraps and some small reminder signs you can
hang around the house.

Here’s wishing you a sustainable quarantine!

Contents

Kitchen................................................................................................................................................................4

Garden................................................................................................................................................................6

Living Room...................................................................................................................................................8

Bathroom.......................................................................................................................................................10

Bedroom.........................................................................................................................................................12

Utilities..............................................................................................................................................................14

Garage..............................................................................................................................................................16

Printables.......................................................................................................................................................17
 Kitchen

Embrace leftovers
(even small amounts): Even if you don’t think there is enough
left for a full meal, save your leftovers anyway. Once or twice
a week simply have a “leftover lunch” bringing out all the left-
overs you have in the fridge.

Experiment with Vegetarian cooking

Spending more time in your kitchen? Take this as an oppor-
tunity to try a few climate friendly vegetarian or vegan reci-
pes.

The freezer is your friend

Use that freezer! If you make a big batch of soup, too many
hamburgers, have more muffins than you can eat before
they’ll go bad, simply stick them in the freezer.

Try your hand at pickling

One great way to preserve veggies is by pickling. If you find
yourself with more vegetables than you can eat, maybe it’s
time to give it a try. Beets, green beans, onions, you can try
them all.

Meal Plan
Since you are likely only food shopping once a week (or less)
meal planning is essential, and will prevent you from buying
food that you end up not using. Take 20-30 minutes once
a week before you make your grocery list to plan out your
meals.

4
Use filters for tap water
A faucet filter, or a filter pitcher eliminates the need for
bottled water.

Take-out Containers As Food Storage

The easiest way to reuse take-out containers is to wash and use
them to store food, especially if the containers come with lids.
They’re also great for meal prepping.

Make A Zero-Waste Cleaner from Fruit Peels

You can make a great smelling cleaner from orange peels and vine-
gar.

You’ll need:
• 4 oranges
• 1 bottle of white vinegar
• mesh strainer
• spray bottle

Place the peels in a glass jar. You can eat the oranges over the
course of a week and gradually add the peels to the jar.

Once all the peels have been added, pour in the whole bottle of
white vinegar. (Try to find a brand that comes in a glass bottle so
you can reuse it)

Once the orange peels are completely covered by the white vin-
egar, close it up. Leave it alone for 3 weeks. The longer you let it
ferment, the more potent it will be. Store it some place relatively
warm and out of the sun: such as under the sink.

After 3 weeks, use a strainer to separate out the orange peels.

Make a roughly 50/50 mix of the cleaner and water in the spray
bottle. If a 50/50 mix seems too strong, you can add more water
to dilute it. You can store any extra undiluted cleaner in the empty
glass vinegar bottle.

When you’re done, make sure to compost the leftover orange

peels.

(Instructions from Greenify Me)

5
 Garden

Seed Starters
Clean out and then poke holes in the bottom of your shallow
cardboard, Styrofoam, or plastic takeout containers, fill them
with some soil and plant some seeds. Bonus: if your take out
container is a plastic container with a lid you can use the lid as
a tray underneath the container to catch the water that drips
out.

Container Garden
Live in an apartment or don’t have the space for a garden? No
problem. Try planting some vegetables in pots and make a
container garden. Tomatoes, peppers, lettuce, and even some
root vegetables if you have a deep enough pot will grow nice-
ly (and it’s easier to keep away the rabbits and deer)!

Compost
Start composting your food scraps (just no meat, cheese, or
oily bits!). You can create a compost pile out by your garden,
or you can collect your compost in a container to give to an
organization that will do the composting. In Washington DC
you can bring your food scraps to most Farmers Markets!

Plant Native Species

If you are going to plant any ornamental plants make sure that
they are native (a quick google search will tell you what is na-
tive to your area). Native plants need less water and fertilizer,
provide food for local species including bees and butterflies,
and help prevent erosion.

6
Collect rainwater
You can purchase a fancy rainwater catchment system or just stick a
bucket under your gutter and use the collected water to water your
plants.
What foods can be regrown?
Many common vegetables and herbs can be used to regrow food
a few examples include:
Potatoes
Wait for your potato to grow
“eyes” or buds. If it is a very
small potato you can simply
plant the entire potato, if it is
large cut it into pieces mak-
ing sure each piece you intend to plant has
an eye.
Garlic
Stick a clove of garlic in a
small glass of water and
wait for green shoots to
grow. You can then chop
up these green shoots and
use them as a garnish like you would scal-
lions
Celery and Leeks
After you chop off and use
the dark green part of the
leeks/top of the celery,
place the lighter colored
bottom into a small glass
of water. It helps to use
toothpicks to prop the
top part up so it remains
above the water. Then wait
for new shoots to grow.
Fennel
Place the bulb in a mug or bowl
that can hold enough water to
cover the bottom half of the
bulb while still allowing light to hit it. Fill
with an inch or so of water. After one week
in a sunny spot, green shoots will sprout
from the top.
Onion
Take the bottom part of the
onion and simply plant it in
some soil (the rounded bot-
tom goes into the soil). Once
the roots grow remove the
leftover nub and after a few
months a new onion will
grow.
Carrot greens
Take the top of the carrot
and place it in a bit of water
to soak for a week or two
(until you see roots form).
Then transfer the new plant
to soil. You can use the
greens for salads and as a
garnish.
(You can find a printable, complete list on
page 16.)
7
 Living Room

Refresh old furniture

If you have a piece of furniture that you’re not thrilled with
anymore, don’t just replace it!. There are quite a few things
you can do to breathe new life into old objects.

• Stenciling furniture (Acrylic paints are best for wood

furniture)
• Reupholster small items, like cushions
• Add new hardware (maybe the only thing that dresser
needs is some eclectic knobs!)
• Add kooky legs
• Of Course: IKEA hacks

Make sure you have window treatments

Curtains and blinds can actually help to keep your room
warm in the winter and cool in the summer, reducing
your electricity use.

• Here’s a blog with ideas for updating window

treatments.

House Plants
House plants help absorb CO2 and turn it into oxygen.
BUT, make sure you water your plants with recycled
water. For example, you can leave a bucket outside to
collect water during a rainstorm.

8
Donate or recycle your e-waste
Old Televisions, computers, phones, and appliances should
be recycled correctly or donated! Some companies provide
removal when you order a new appliance, or allow you to
trade in and receive credit towards something new. Don’t just
put them out on the curb.

Environmental Documentaries you can watch at home

Since we’re all spending more time inside these days,
• Cowspiracy (Netflix)
• Tomorrow (Amazon Prime)
• Riverblue (YouTube)
• Ice on Fire (HBO, Hulu)
• A Plastic Ocean (Netflix)
• Before the Flood (iTunes)
• The True Cost (Amazon Prime)
• Chasing Coral (Netflix)
• Rotten (Netflix)
• Night on Earth (Netflix)
• Honeyland (Hulu, YouTube, Amazon Prime)
• Chasing Ice (Amazon Prime)
• Cane Toads: An Unnatural History
• Dancing with the Birds (Netflix)
• The Story of Stuff (YouTube)
• The Cove (Amazon Prime)
• The Great Invisible (YouTube, Amazon Prime)
• Gasland
• If a Tree Falls: The Story of the Earth Liberation Front
(Amazon Prime)
• Who Killed the Electric Car? (YouTube, Vudu)
• The Devil We Know (Netflix)
• National Parks Adventure (Netflix)
• Untamed Romania (Netflix)
• Encounters at the End of the World (YouTube)
• Mission Blue (Netflix)
• Into the Inferno (Netflix)
• Sonic Sea (YouTube Movies)
• The Ivory Game (Netflix)
• Tapped
• An American Ascent
• Urban Roots
• People of a Feather

9
 Bathroom

Shorten your shower time

Try setting an alarm on your phone for 10 minutes to help
keep track of time. Showering represents nearly 17% of annu-
al residential indoor water use in the U.S. An average shower
uses about 5 gallons of water per minute. If you shorten your
shower by just 2 minutes, you can cut your water use by 10
gallons! Think about investing in a low flow shower head,
which uses only 2 gallons of water per minute.

Turn the faucet off when brushing your teeth

Just by turning off the tap while you brush your teeth in the
morning and before bedtime, you can save up to 8 gal-
lons of water! This is more than the recommended amount
of fresh water you should drink within a two-week period.
Sometimes, I remember this Sesame Street animation when
brushing, and it helps remind me to turn off the faucet.

Bar shampoo and soap

Switch to bar shampoo and soap to reduce your plastic
10:00
waste. You can even experiment with making your own
shampoo. Companies that offer shampoo bars include:
• JR Liggett’s Shampoo Bar
• Lush
• Love Beauty and Planet
• Shea Moisture
• Ethique
• Bar None
• Basin.com
• Apple Valley Natural Soap

10
 • Meow Meow Tweet
• Friendly Soap
• Chagrin Valley Soap and Salve
• Mayapple Soap
• Christophe Robin

Refill your Hand soap

If you use liquid hand soap buy refills instead of a new bottle every
time. Some companies that sell soap refills are:
• Method
• supernatural
• ThreeMain
• cleancult
• Common Good
• Blueland
• Soapply

Eco Friendly Skin Care

Many facial scrubs rely on plastic microbeads to exfoliate, here are
some alternative products that do the trick without contributing to
plastic in the waterways!
• Origins Never a Dull Moment Cleanser
• Palmer’s Coconut Facial Scrub
• Alba Acnedote
• Fresh Soy Face Exfoliant
• Tatcha Rice Polish

Make your Own Toothpaste

You can make your own using these simple ingredients:
• 6 tbsp Coconut Oil
• 1 tsp Stevia
• 6 tbsp Baking Soda

Mix all ingredients together in a bowl.

Pour into a mason jar and seal it up until ready to use.
Getting it out of the mason jar can be an adjustment. Use a pop-
sicle stick to dip into the toothpaste and spread nicely onto the
toothbrush. You can also use a squirt bottle (you will need to cut
the pointed tip wider).

If you’re feeling ambitious, you can try integrating ingredients like

Crushed Cacao Nibs/Powder, Bentonite Clay or Diatomaceous Earth.
11
 Bedroom

Making a Mask at Home

You can find a variety of sewing patterns and no-sew mask
ideas online:

• The U.S. Surgeon General has created a video for an

easy no-sew mask.
• People have made no-sew masks out of stretchy box-
er shorts and two folded paper towels.
• Jiangmei Wu, a paper artist and assistant professor of
interior design at Indiana University, offers a pattern for
making a paper mask, as shown in this video.
• Or try this ninja mask a mom made for her son with a
long-sleeved T-shirt.
• The Mask4All website also has several mask ideas.
• If you can sew, The Times Style section has provided
instructions for a simple mask pattern that can be
downloaded.

Re-purpose Old T-shirts

If you want to avoid running to the store to buy paper towels,
you can cut up an old t-shirt into 10”x10” squares and repur-
pose it as reusable cleaning rags.

(FInd 15 additional uses on the Well and Good Blog).

Learn basic sewing skills

Teach yourself how to sew on a button, hem pants, and oth-
er basic skills that can help you fix your clothing so you don’t
need to buy new clothing for a minor issue.

12
Downsize your closet
Every time you purchase a new piece of clothing commit to donat-
ing at least 3 items that you no longer wear.

Use an e-reader or tablet

Or borrow books from your local library, or purchase your books
used and donate or sell them afterwards. Check if your local library
offers digital rentals. Many library systems are members of
Overdrive or Libby, where you can rent ebooks and audio books
for free. Or, you can watch movies via Kanopy, a kind of free Netflix
for libraries.

Change your clothes washing habits

Wear clothes more than once! Especially jeans. Wash your clothes
in cold water (Energy Star estimates that 90% of the electricity used
when washing clothes goes toward heating) and when you can,
dry your clothes on the line or on a rack.

You can even make homemade laundry detergent:

• 1 bar of your favorite soap
• 1 to 1½ cups washing soda
• 1 cup baking soda
• 1/4 cup Epsom salts
• 1/2 cup powdered citric acid

To start, grab a food grater that you’re OK dedicating to your DIY

laundry detergent. Use it to shred your bar of soap into grated
pieces, or just start chopping it with your food processor. Place the
shavings into a food processor, then scoop the rest of the ingre-
dients in. Pulse the machine a few times to mix, and you’re done!
Be sure to store the product in an airtight container. To make a
fresh-smelling batch, add a few drops of essential oils.

How much detergent you need depends on your load size. If it’s a
large load with lots of stains to fight, try 1 to 3 tablespoons.

Recipe from Toms of Maine

13
 Utilities

Check Your Thermostat Settings

Manually adjusting your thermostat by even a few degrees,
especially when you’re not home, or choosing options like
programmable thermostats can support timed temperature
adjustments.

Average heating costs per household are $662 per year,

while cooling costs are $394 per year. Turning thermostats
back 7 to 10 degrees from their normal settings for 8 hours
per day can lead to significant drops in energy use and up to
10% annual savings (approx. $100). Investing in a smart ther-
mostat further enables thermostat control and sustainable
decision making.
70
Optimize Appliance Efficiency
• Keep the oven door closed – it loses 25°-50°F every
time you open it!
• Fill up the fridge and freezer – these appliances are
more efficient when full.
• Wash your clothes in cold water.
• Energy efficient light bulbs are a great alternative to
support sustainable energy use.
• Local utilities also provide the option to purchase from
renewable energy sources.

Combat “vampire power Loss”

Vampire Power Loss is a result of unnecessarily plugged-in
devices. Unplugging items when they’re not being used can
significantly reduce energy usage. Some common “vampire”

14
electronics include:
• Video Game Consoles
• Phone/Laptop Chargers
• Cable/Satellite Boxes
• Coffee Makers
• TVs
• Microwave
• Desktop Computers
• Printers
• Air Conditioner
• Night Light
• Surge Protectors
• Electric Toothbrush
• Hair Dryer/Straightener

These items continue to use trace amounts of energy when

plugged in, but not in use. To save energy, you can unplug these
items after use, or you can buy energy saving surge protectors
which prevent the flow of electricity to items that are plugged into
it but not in use.

Do your own home energy audit

To get a better idea of where you are wasting energy you can do a
home energy assessment.

• Make note of leaks of drafts in the house, being sure to

check along the baseboard or edge of the flooring and at
junctures of the walls and ceiling.
• Check insulation as the amount may not be sufficient to ade-
quately hold in heat/cool..
• Inspect heating and cooling equipment.
• Energy for lighting accounts for about 10% of your electric
bill. Examine the light bulbs in your house and consider re-
placing inefficient bulbs with a more efficient choices.
• Consider strategies for reducing costs associated with appli-
ance and electronic usage.
• After you know where your home is losing energy, make a
plan by asking yourself a few questions:
• How much money do you spend on energy?
• Where are your greatest energy losses?
• How long will it take for an investment in energy efficiency
to pay for itself in energy cost savings?
• How long do you plan to own your current home?

You can find the full guide here.

15
 Garage

Choose to bike/walk if you can

When going out for the day, maybe ask yourself “can I bike
or walk there?”

Choose local stores

Many stores are offering curbside pickup or delivery to help
keep everyone safe. Help keep your local businesses in busi-
ness by choosing to buy from them. Buying locally means
your items don’t have to be shipped from faraway warehous-
es when you order them, so it is often more sustainable, and
that’s even more true if you’re buying items that are locally
made!

Combine Errands
If you do need to use your car try and combine all your er-
rands so that you are making less trips out.

Reduce your speed

Reducing your speed while driving lowers your car’s carbon
footprint. Keeping your tires properly filled with air can also
help.

Don’t let your car idle

Turn off your car as soon as you return home. An idling car
emits 22 times more pollution than one traveling at 32 mph.

16
Printable
signs
Hey!
These pages can be printed out
and hung up around the house.

Cut on the dotted lines and tape these

signs about the house as reminders!

Did You
Remember Me?

Hey! Hey!

Could you walk/ Could you recycle

bike there? or reuse that?
 Fennel
Place the bulb in a mug or bowl
that can hold enough water to
cover the bottom half of the bulb

Garage
Potatoes
while still allowing light to hit it. Fill
with an inch or so of water. After
Garlic
one week in a sunny spot, green
Wait for your potato to grow “eyes” shoots will sprout from the top. Stick a clove of garlic in a small
or buds. If it is a very small potato glass of water and wait for green
you can simply plant the entire shoots to grow. You can then
potato, if it is large cut it into piec- chop up these green shoots and
es making sure each piece you use them as a garnish like you
intend to plant has an eye. would scallions

Onion
Leeks
Take the bottom
Place the lighter
part of the onion
colored bottom into
and simply plant
a small glass of wa- Carrot
it in some soil (the
rounded bottom
ter. It helps to use greens
toothpicks to prop
goes into the soil). Take the top of the carrot and
the top part up so it
Once the roots grow place it in a bit of water to soak for
remains above the
remove the leftover a week or two (until you see roots
water. Then wait for
nub and after a few form). Then transfer the new plant
new shoots to grow.
months a new onion to soil. You can use the greens for
will grow. salads and as a garnish.

Celery
Cut about 1.5” to 2” above the root
base of the celery, and place the
root in a shallow bowl filled with
water and put it in sunlight. After
about a week, you should see
little leaves beginning to sprout
from the middle.
Scallion
Leave about an inch of
the white bottom. Put
the stub in a narrow
glass so it can lean
without falling over. Romaine Lettuce
Make sure sunlight can Save 3 inches of the butt of the
hit the roots. Fill the lettuce. Place, roots down, in a
glass with a bit of water, snug bowl. Fill with water until the
and place in a sunny bottom half of the lettuce is sub-
spot. You should see merged. Put the container in the
growth in a few days. sun.

Beets/
Turnips/
Parsnips
You can reserve the tops of these
vegetables and regrow greens
from them. Leave about an inch
of the top. Place in a shallow
container, add water, and put in a
sunny spot.
Basil
Place a few leaf and stem clip-
pings in a glass filled with water,
put it in sunlight, and once the
roots grow to about 2”, you can
plant them in soil.
Lemon grass
Cut a few inches above the bot-
tom of stem and submerge them
in a glass filled with about an inch
of water. Leave it in a sunny spot
(adding more water as needed),
and in roughly two to three weeks
it should start growing roots.