I’ve always thought the practice of changing our clocks for Daylight Saving Time (DST) was silly, actually, I tend to think that time-zones aren’t needed either, so I’m a bit of a odd one, but whenever I complain about the practice, I’m always confronted with the counter-argument that “it’s for the farmers.” Well, I’m not a farmer, nor is anyone I know, nor can anyone I know explain why a farmer would actually want to change their clocks, so I’ve always wondered what “the farmers” actually think about it.
The internet could have answered this question for me long ago, but it wasn’t until this CNN article, “Congress may extend daylight-saving time“, that I decided to look into it more. As it turns out, farmers don’t actually like DST. The trouble is, cows and plants tend to ignore what time the clock reads.
For once, the post on slashdot about the news actually had some pretty smart conversation in it. And from that, I found a link to this article, “Daylight Savings Time on national Review Online“, which is filled with wonderful quotes like these:
“When the first DST law was making its way through Congress, farmers actually lobbied against it.”
“Urban businessmen were a major force behind the adoption of DST in the United States. They thought daylight would encourage workers to go shopping on their way home.”
Ahhh… an urban businessmen conspiracy. I like the sound of that!
Of course, The Man presents a different argument, which is based on saving energy. The claim is that if worker bees get home while the sun’s still out, they’re less likely to turn on the lights in their homes, which conserves energy. The Wikipedia Daylight Savings Time page has this to say about it:
“United States Department of Transportation studies showed that DST reduces the country’s electricity usage by one percent during each day DST is in effect.”
Well that’s good — we’ll need that extra electricity to run the air-conditioning an hour earlier.
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[update: 2005-04-08]
After reading this, someone emailed me this link for more history about DST: http://webexhibits.org/daylightsaving/index.html. The first few pages are pretty good, but it doesn’t give a good reason for changing the clocks in the winter. I’m all for extra sunlight in the evening — I just think we should stay on “summer-time” year round. Of course, after reading more about it, my opinion may be based on me living close to the equator. Apparently people who have dark, cold winter’s like to shift the clock to maximize sunshine during lunch; whereas sunlight isn’t really a problem for us.
David Engel 10:10 am on April 15, 2005 Permalink |
Time zones — in the United States, at least — were set up to benefit rail commuters at the turn of the 20th century (if I am remembering correctly) because without a standard time arrangement, it was very difficult to plan connections. You could leave Washington at 1:00 for Baltimore (30 minutes away) and arrive in time for the 1:15 to New York.
Imagine the possible confusion that might be today if you got on a plane in Dallas at 3:00 for Chicago and arrived at 3:00, or you left New York at 7:00 for Los Angeles and arrived at 7:00. Talk about serious jet-lag.
erik 11:01 am on April 15, 2005 Permalink |
But if there were no time zones at all (or, just one time zone to rule them all I guess), wouldn’t catching a train be even easier? If you left at 1pm on a 30 minute ride, you’d know that you could catch the 1:45pm from wherever that next stop may be. You wouldn’t have to know about time zone changes — just time.
M. J. Rodgers 5:21 pm on March 9, 2007 Permalink |
What hasn’t been addressed here – or anywhere else – is the most important problem with DST. It kills people.
Every year the switch to DST results in increased traffic accidents and lost lives as sleep-deprived Americans get in their cars (and behind the control of school busses) and run into one another on the way to work. This year will be even worse because of the decision to force DST during winter when icy roads will contribute to even more fatalities.
And don’t kid yourselves that if you make it to the hospital after an accident, you’ll be all right. Sleep-deprived health care personnel will be attending you. And as any study will verify, they make double the mistakes. As do the pilots who will be behind the controls of all the aircraft.