One week from today our day will be 25 hours long in much of the United States
Wasn't it just yesterday (well, it was March 5, which seems like yesterday) when I blogged this:
"It's almost that time, here in the United States.
It's almost time to "spring ahead". Almost time for many to suffer a couple of days of disorientation. (I'm one of them.) Time again for people to beg, "Someone make it stop!"
Yes, it is time to spring ahead an hour to Daylight Saving Time. (Side note, it is Daylight Saving Time, not Daylight Savings Time).
I do a variation of this post twice a year.
Right now, in the United States, it is legal for a state to not implement Daylight Saving Time (which is why Hawaii, and Arizona outside the Navajo Nation can do it), but that is the only deviation that is permitted.Although most Americans oppose the spring ahead/fall back practice, no one can seem to agree on exactly how it should end. We are split over year round daylight saving time or year round standard time. Or, should we go back a half hour so no one is happy?
So around and around we go. As the saying goes, where it stops, nobody knows. We've been doing it for years.
Now, it is 2022 and we we will do it again at 2am local time on Sunday, March 13.
And we'll be doing it again on November 6, because this all will be forgotten until November."
Guess what. It's almost November. Sure enough, we are dusting this topic off. We will return to Standard Time, most of us in the United States (except the states listed above), on November 6. (And, on March 12, 2023, we will be jumping ahead once again....maybe).
Maybe...maybe this time....maybe we've reached critical mass.
Some things are actually starting to change.
Take the country of Mexico, for example. They have four time zones, and the country goes back to Standard time today. But come spring, they are going to stay on Standard Time, except for some cities along the Mexico/United States border. They will be allowed to return to Daylight Saving Time to be synced with the United States.
Not only that, but in March of this year, the United States Senate passed a bill, the Sunshine Protection Act of 2021, that would make Daylight Saving Time permanent. (The states listed above that currently have year round Standard Time could continue with that.). If passed by both houses and signed into law by the President, the law would be effective in November of 2023.
There are 19 states that have already passed year round Daylight Saving Time legislation and, if this becomes law, they can implement these state laws immediately. New York, where I live, is not one of those states.
It doesn't appear the House is going to take up the issue any time soon but, given that the Senate bill was sponsored by a Republican (Marco Rubio), I wonder what will happen if Republicans regain control of Congress.
Our citizens, meanwhile, are split on the issue.
So, around and around we go, but we have a better chance of stopping this twice a year madness than ever.
Maybe.
Either stick with standard time or stick with Daylight Saving Time,switching back and forth makes no sense and can actually be dangerous.
ReplyDeleteI'm certainly not a fan of the twice a year time change, but I also was not a fan of when we went to Daylight time in January of 1973. It didn't get light (in NYC) until after 8am. But I think I would prefer year round anything to our current system.
DeleteI goofed - it was 1974. January 6, 1974, to be exact.
Delete...I like Daylight Saving Time.
ReplyDeleteI remember when we were suddenly pulled into Daylight Saving Time on January 6, 1974, due to the oil crisis, and I hated every minute of my stumbling around in the 8am dark. It was supposed to be a two year experiment. People supported it when it was implemented. Several months later, public opinion was firmly against ever doing it again and the experiment was abandoned. Something tells me it won't be any more popular if we go permanent Daylight time next year. But, as I said above, I don't like the time switch, either. Perhaps year round Standard Time would work better but that's not what the law being passed does.
ReplyDeleteI'm not a fan of DST right about now, it's too dark in the morning! But, if we didn't ever change, it still gets light or dark earlier or later on its own. So, I'd end up, if not happy, at least not wondering when to change the clocks.
ReplyDeleteDay light saving really destroys my biological clock twice a year. Start and finish. I just cannot comprehend how that helps economy
ReplyDeleteYears ago my US congressperson informed me that DST saves enough energy to power 100,000 homes. Pretty stupid reason when you realize that my small community has more than 25,000 residences alone. I just wish they would leave the clocks alone.
ReplyDeleteHadn't heard this. Great news!
ReplyDeleteI am firmly in the camp of meh. So, I'll just sit here in my little corner and keep quiet until things settle down again.
ReplyDeleteCalifornia was one of the states that passed year-round Daylight Saving. It was a prop on the ballot a couple years ago.