Good-Bye Daylight Time
Tonight DST goes away for another winter. For a few blessed months I won't be struggling every day feeling an hour behind, feeling like time is always against me.
Unfortunately, it looks like next spring's return of DST may be made worse than ever. Someone has turned the grassroots movement to end the twice-annual clock change on its head. Instead of staying on standard time all year long, they want to put us on permanent daylight time.
I remember when Nixon put us on year-round daylight time back in 1974 in response to the Arab Oil Embargo. I was in first grade, and suddenly we were having to get on the bus in the dark.
Interestingly enough, it didn't last long. As the immediate impact of the Energy Crisis subsided, year-round daylight time was ended, and we returned to the twice-annual clock change.
My own opinion? In the modern era of giant server farms and other 24/7 industrial processes being the major users of electricity, daylight time no longer provides meaningful energy savings, and puts a lot of people's natural circadian rhythms out of sync with observed time, resulting in chronic stress and causing or worsening health conditions.
Unfortunately, it looks like next spring's return of DST may be made worse than ever. Someone has turned the grassroots movement to end the twice-annual clock change on its head. Instead of staying on standard time all year long, they want to put us on permanent daylight time.
I remember when Nixon put us on year-round daylight time back in 1974 in response to the Arab Oil Embargo. I was in first grade, and suddenly we were having to get on the bus in the dark.
Interestingly enough, it didn't last long. As the immediate impact of the Energy Crisis subsided, year-round daylight time was ended, and we returned to the twice-annual clock change.
My own opinion? In the modern era of giant server farms and other 24/7 industrial processes being the major users of electricity, daylight time no longer provides meaningful energy savings, and puts a lot of people's natural circadian rhythms out of sync with observed time, resulting in chronic stress and causing or worsening health conditions.