To Fall Back Or Not To Fall Back, That Is The Question …
This Sunday, we jump ahead an hour to Eastern Standard Time, ending Daylight Savings until Sunday March 10th of next year. Many people hate the shift back and forth 2x a year.
During World War I, Germany shifted its clocks to save electricity: Wake people up an hour earlier, the sun feels like it sets an hour later, and you don’t need to turn on as many lights. The concept caught on around the world, including the United States, which first introduced daylight saving time in 1918 (although it didn’t become permanent in most of the country until nearly 50 years later). But times have changed — and so have energy costs. In 2006, Indiana joined in on daylight saving time, leaving Hawaii and Arizona as the only states that don’t observe it.
Now Florida wants to have daylight saving time year-round, not standard time, but it would be tricky to change as it’s against U.S. law. So Congress would need to change the law. Maybe senators and representatives will be swayed by what’s happening across the Atlantic Ocean, where Europe may soon abolish its twice-yearly clock changes.
The European Commission, which represents 28 countries, recently asked for public comment on what it calls “summertime arrangements,” and 4.6 million people responded — 84 percent in favor of picking a time and sticking with it. (The majority were German) The European Parliament will vote by next spring, when clocks are slated to jump ahead possibly for the final time. Then it’s up to each country to decide whether to stay on summertime, or fall back in October to permanent wintertime.
What do you think of these time changes? Would you rather stay on DLST all year, and have more sunlight?
Keep Rockin’ – Tejay
