The Shocking Truth About Daylight Saving Time

[Music] welcome to the show this episode as Seasons begin to change we're going to look at the topic of daylight seing do we still need Daylight Saving Time and for those who are questioning or pondering I didn't make a mistake it is daylight saving time which is the correct phrase but daylight savings time is also commonly used the word saving in singular or a singular rather because it's part of an adjective not a verb so DST is daylight saving time but it's often wrongly referred to as daylight savings I digress let's Dive Right In many are not fans of time change does hitting the snooze button make you more creative or will it ruin your day so for nearly a century Americans have been swinging forward and falling back and this year will be no different Daylight Saving Time DST is the seasonal surprise that borrows an hour from our carc Cadian rhythm in the spring and gives it back in the fall but whether or not we should disrupt the Rhythm at all has spurred passionate debate for many disparate groups to better understand the situation it's best to look at why we do these annual clock changes in the first place our Gregorian cultures built their societies around sunlight waking up up with the sun to toil in the field and heading home as the sun lowered Beneath The Horizon but the Industrial Revolution brought with it the freedom to unshackle us from Nature's clock as long ago as 1897 countries around the world began instituting a Daylight Saving Time adding an hour of sunlight to the afternoon so this meant communities could be more productive right the idea that people could work longer and when work was done it was still bright enough to run errands and uh stimulate the economy the added daylight also meant more exposure to vitamin D and the added time for people to exercise Outdoors everyone from Factory owners to retailers embraced the change even the candy Lobby supported the new system figuring uh the extra hour of sunlight meant it would be safer for kids to go trick or treating on Halloween it has several technical benefits as well Dr David perau author of sees the daylight the curious and contentious story of daylight saving time explained to mnn recently it's been found to reduce energy usage by doing something called load smoothing separating um out electrical loads throughout the day to better deal with the valleys and peaks of energy use and so you're going to generate energy more efficiently and therefore have less effects on pollution a study by the US Department of Transportation in the 70s showed that the country's electricity usage is cut by 1% each day because of daylight saving time yet some groups aren't fans of the time change when it's darker earlier people tend to stay home and watch more TV that's why the TV networks don't like the time change in Spring so not everyone is on board with resetting their clocks a couple of times a year most recently West Virginia policy makers introduced the house bill 4270 to make Eastern Standard Time the official time of West Virginia thereby eliminating daylight saving time in the state US senator Marco Rubio of Florida introduced a bill in Congress to make Daylight Saving Time permanent for the entire nation called the Sunshine protection act of 2019 the bill would require all states and territories to permanently switch to Daylight Saving Time unless they already have as Hawaii Puerto Rico US Virgin Islands and most of Arizona have Studies have shown many benefits of a yearr round daylight saving time which is why Florida's legislature overwhelmingly voted to make it permanent last year Rubio said in a statement according to the Orlando Sentinel reflecting the will of the State of Florida I'm proud to reintroduce this bill to make Daylight Saving Time permanent nationally he said in March 2018 Florida lawmakers approved a bill to make a Daylight Saving Time year round the state house voted 103 to1 and state senates 33-2 in favor of the bill Governor Rick Scott signed it into law but the clock still rolled back an hour in November Washington State which in April 2019 passed its own hash ditch the switch legislation will have a similar experience why Congress must approve the bill because of the 19666 uniform time act which promotes the adoption and observance of uniform time within the standard time zones unless a state exempts themselves from daylight saving time ruia hopes that change is that the US isn't alone in debating whether or not daylight saving time should still exist let's take a look at Europe and what Europe does in March 2019 the European Union commission voted to abolish Daylight Saving Time by 2021 after 84% of EU citizens supported ending DST in a public survey The Proposal needs the support of at least 28 member nations and members of the European Parliament to become law under the proposal each member state would um decide whether to remain on DST letting the EU commission know of their decision by 2020 Greece Portugal and the United Kingdom have expressed a desire to stay on the current system of switching back and forth while many other member states want to end it reports dorsi well some states are requesting a transition period until 2021 at the time as they said in I quote you need time to give the member states the opportunity to coordinate it is really important that we don't have a total Patchwork German MEP Peter Leisa told DOA but does it save energy other groups say Daylight Savings Time doesn't actually conserve energy Michael Downing a teacher at tough's University and the author of spring forward the annual Madness of daylight saving time says messing with the clock doesn't really save energy Daylight Saving is still a boon to purveyors of barbecue girls sports and recreation equipment and the petroleum industry as gasoline consumption increases every time we increase the length of the daylight saving period Downing tells mnn give Americans an extra hour of after dinner daylight and they will go to the ballpark or the mall but they won't walk there so daylight saving time increases gasoline consumption according to Downing it's a convenient and cynical substitute for a real energy conservation policy and there is data to back him up a report by the California energy commission's demand analysis office concluded that the extension of daylight saving time DSD to March 2007 had little or no effect on energy consumption in California for example television networks aren't fans of the time change either the extra hour of daylight means fewer people are home to watch TV viewership ratings traditionally plunge each spring on average Prime Time Shows shed 10% of their viewers on the Monday after the clocks are changed I think television networks would like it to be dark as soon as you left the office and headed home for the night to bill gourman of the website TV by the Numbers told NPR and maybe it started raining or snowing a lot as soon as Prime Time began and it doesn't look like those issues will end anytime soon as part of the energy Policy Act of 2005 Congress pushed Daylight Saving Time 3 to four weeks deeper into the fall that change has resulted in sunrises as late as 8:30 a.m. in some areas causing Ripple effects in on expected places for example it has thrown a wrench into the lifestyle of observant Jews who mourning synagogue services are Prett dedi predicated on the sun in fact PR points out Israel has a relatively short daylight saving time compared to other countries if Sunrise is late religious Jews have to delay going to work or pray at work neither of which is a desirable situation he says so what are the alternatives for living a DST free life people who live in Arizona or Hawaii never have to worry about spring forward or falling back if you don't like daylight saving time you have plenty of explains AJ Jacobs the bestselling author of The knowitall He suggests moving to Arizona or Hawaii parts of Indiana used to be DSC resistant as well but I think they've since buckled even for those who do live in such States it's not all Easy Living as it might seem it's crazy people forget about us not changing so they call at ridiculous times says Anita Atwell seat a doctoral student at the University of Arizona in toxin but on the opposite side you don't have to adjust your sleep schedule or your clocks is Daylight Saving Time a fate accomp or will time ever just stand still Downing doesn't see a light at the end of the tunnel that's a great PA since 1966 every 20 years Congress has given us another month of daylight saving we're up to 8 months now he says and there is every reason to believe that the US Chamber of Commerce the national Lobby for convenience stores which account for more than 80% of all gasoline sales in the country and Congress will continue to press for extensions until we stopt year round daylight saving and then why not spring forward in March or April and enjoy double daylight saving time it's a very interesting subject people have different opinions um on different sides please leave a comment we'd like to see where um you um you um lay do you would you like daylight savings or would you like it to end what are your opinions we'd like to hear it from you so uh hit the like button please subscribe uh leave a comment it's an interesting debate uh as we come to the end of the summer and um please head over to buac coffee.com Samson King and leave a donation we appreciate it and as always thanks for stopping by and we'll see you next time time [Music]