Tuesday, April 22 is Earth Day. And in light of this day of awareness, we wanted to share how the Arch is lending its hand in protecting the environment.

Let there be LED Light: As you may know, there is quite a large light bulb at the top of the Arch that required frequent changes when it would go out. A few years back, that bulb was replaced with an energy-efficient LED unit, which has tremendously cut down on light changes.

H-2-Oh-Yeah! The National Park Service has installed water bottle refill stations at the public drinking fountains at the Gateway Arch and Old Courthouse. (Disposable plastic bottles comprise 40 percent of JNEM’s solid waste disposal through recycling.) Visitors are encouraged to utilize these refill stations to decrease waste. And the fountains even have digital read outs that show how many plastic bottles have been eliminated by using the refill station!

No-Power Hour: Just last month, the Arch switched its outdoor lights off for Earth Hour, which brought awareness about climate change by calling individuals, cities and landmarks to turn off unnecessary lights and electrical appliances in order to reduce waste and overconsumption.

How are you celebrating Earth Day? Are you pledging to recycle more? Have you switched to energy-efficient lighting? Or are you forgoing saying “plastic” in the grocery store checkout line, and instead are using reusable totes? Tell us!