By JAMIE STENGLE (Associated Press)
ALLAS (AP) — Once again, most Americans will move their clocks ahead by one hour this weekend. They may lose some sleep but they will have more sunlight in the evenings as the days get warmer.
Where did this tradition come from?
The process of moving the clock forward in the spring and then back in the fall has a history of over a century. It has been driven by two world wars, widespread confusion at times, and a human wish to enjoy sunlight for as long as possible.
There has been much discussion about this practice, but approximately 70 countries, around 40% of those worldwide, currently use what Americans refer to as daylight saving time.
While moving the clocks forward may disrupt our routine, the extra daylight encourages people to spend time outdoors, exercise, and have fun, according to Anne Buckle, web editor at timeanddate.com, a website featuring information on time, time zones, and astronomy.
“The really fantastic advantage is the bright evenings, right?” she says. “It means having hours of daylight after work to spend time with your family or engage in activities. And that's great.”
Here are some details to help you understand the practice of changing time:
HOW DID THIS ORIGINATE?
In the 1890s, George Vernon Hudson, an astronomer and entomologist in New Zealand, suggested shifting the time in spring and fall to increase daylight. In the early 1900s, British home builder William Willett, concerned that people weren’t up enjoying the morning sunlight, also advocated for this change. However, neither proposal gained enough support to be put into action.
Germany began using daylight saving time during World War I, hoping it would save energy. Other countries, including the United States, soon followed suit. During World War II, the U.S. once again introduced what was called “war time” nationwide, this time year-round.
In the United States today, every state except Hawaii and Arizona follows daylight saving time. Around the world, Europe, much of Canada, and part of Australia also follow it, while Russia and Asia currently do not.
VARYING AND WIDESPREAD CONFUSION
After World War II, there was a mix of different timekeeping practices across the United States, with some areas using daylight saving time and others not.
“You might have one town with daylight saving time, the next town might also have it but start and end it on different dates, while the third might not have it at all,” says David Prerau, author of the book “Seize the Daylight: The Curious and Contentious Story of Daylight Saving Time.”
At one point, if travelers on a 35-mile (56-kilometer) bus trip from Steubenville, Ohio, to Moundsville, West Virginia, wanted their watches to be correct, they would have to adjust them seven times as they switched in and out of daylight saving time, according to Prerau.
So in 1966, the U.S. Congress passed the Uniform Time Act, which states that states can choose to implement daylight saving time or not, but it must be statewide. The act also specifies the day that daylight saving time starts and ends across the country.
Confusion about the time change is not just a thing of the past. In Lebanon last spring, there was chaos when the government announced a last-minute decision to delay the start of daylight saving time by a month, until the end of the Muslim holy month of Ramadan. Some institutions made the change while others refused, causing difficulty for citizens to manage their schedules. However, the decision was reversed within days. last-minute decision The decision was reversed shortly after causing a huge mess where nobody knew what time it was,
“It really turned into a huge mess where nobody knew what time it was,” Buckle says.
WHAT WOULD IT BE LIKE IF WE DIDN’T CHANGE THE CLOCKS?
Changing the clocks twice a year leads to a lot of complaints, and there are often pushes to use standard time all year or stick to daylight saving time all year.
During the 1970s energy crisis, the U.S. began using daylight saving time all year long, but Americans didn't like it. With the sun not rising until around 9 a.m. or later in the winter in some areas, people were waking up, going to work, and sending their children to school in the dark, Prerau says.
“It became very unpopular very quickly,” Prerau says.
Using standard time all year would mean having one less hour of daylight for eight months in the evenings in the United States.
A NOD TO THE EARLY ADOPTERS
In 1908, the Canadian city of Thunder Bay — then the two cities of Fort William and Port Arthur — changed from the central time zone to the eastern time zone for the summer and fall after a citizen named John Hewitson argued that would afford an extra hour of daylight to enjoy the outdoors, says Michael deJong, curator/archivist at the Thunder Bay Museum.
The following year, Port Arthur stayed on eastern time, while Fort William changed back to central time in the fall, which, predictably, “led to all sorts of confusion,” deJong says.
Today, the city of Thunder Bay is on eastern time and observes daylight saving time, providing the area with “delightfully warm, long days to enjoy” in the summer, says Paul Pepe, tourism manager for Thunder Bay Community Economic Development Commission.
The city, located on Lake Superior, is far enough north that the sun sets at around 10 p.m. in the summer, Pepe says, and that helps make up for their cold dark winters. Residents tend to go on vacations in the winter and stay home in the summer: “I think for a lot of folks here, the long days, the warm summer temperatures, it’s a vacation in your backyard.”
