Published: Send to a friend 16 Ways to Celebrate Earth Day in Your Home Today On Earth Day 2006, thanks to GreenHomeGuide.com, getting from green question to green action will get a lot easier. For the first time, a homeowner planning a more energy-efficient and healthy home will have a one-stop resource for best practices and experiences, as well as 14 regional directories of locally available green home products, services, and retailers. Join GreenHomeGuide.com in celebrating Earth Day 2006. Here are 16 quick and easy ways to save the earth in your home today. Connect with the earth just outside your doors: -- Plant herbs in small pots -- or one big pot -- and place them near the closest door to the kitchen. -- Plant a fruit- or vegetable-bearing tree, bush, or plant, and commit to organic care. -- Plant a native plant in your yard. -- Set up a bird feeder or a birdbath. If you don't have a yard, get one that attaches to your window or wall. Tackle spring cleaning -- without toxins: -- Clean your windows and other surfaces with water and vinegar solution instead of toxic cleaning products; add your favorite essential oil for fragrance. -- Use baking soda when you need muscle. -- Find out where you can recycle old batteries and electronic equipment (cell phones, computer monitors, printers, etc.) -- and do it! Firehouses, office supply stores, electronics stores, or the local dump often will take these items. Improve your indoor air quality: -- Clean or replace filters in HVAC equipment. Consumer Reports has good reviews of filter systems. -- Open your windows and let the fresh air in. -- Dispose of unused paint, solvents, pesticides, and other household chemicals, and tightly close the containers of products still in use. Visit Earth911.org for a national directory of safe disposal sites. Reduce your resource use -- painlessly: -- Replace all your incandescent light bulbs (or at least one) with longer-life, lower-energy-use compact fluorescent bulbs. For best results, choose lights with a color rendering index of 84 or greater and a color temperature of 3500 Kelvin or greater, and with a quick-start, electronic ballast. -- Remember to turn off lights when you're not in the room. -- Notice where the sun shines (or doesn't) in your house and yard throughout the day. If your use of space doesn't match the sun patterns, move some furniture. -- Place a 2-liter plastic bottle filled with water in your toilet tank to save 2 liters of water per flush. -- Turn off the water when brushing your teeth or shaving. -- Unplug appliances you are not using. These tips were provided by GreenHomeGuide experts and community members Lydia Corser, Debra Lynn Dadd, Eric Corey Freed, Christi Graham, Marian Keeler, Miriam Landman, Lily Livingston, Dietmar Lorenz, Michael McCutcheon, Andrea Traber, Carol Venolia, and Lili Wright. For more advice and real-world insight, visit www.GreenHomeGuide.com to learn how a green home can make you feel great. Distributed by Market Wire Copyright © 2008, MarketWire Copyright © 2008, NewsBlaze, Daily News Tags: ,Energy and Utilities:AlternativeEnergy, Environment:NaturalResourceManagement, LifestyleandLeisure:HomeandGarden, Retail:ConsumerInterest, ,CA,SAN FRANCISCO, CA    _   _             Is your favorite bookmark site missing? Ask for it.