The Beginning of Daylight Savings
The time has come again for us to turn our clocks one hour forward. The days will once again become longer and many of us will be able to leave work or after school activities when it is still light outside again. Daylight Savings has been in practice in the majority of the states in the United States and many countries worldwide.
Some people date Daylight Savings all the way back to Benjamin Franklin. It is true that the scientist noticed that the length of the day changed with the seasons. While he was in France, he even suggested that Parisians wake up earlier so they could save candle wax by using natural morning light instead of candles to see. However, it is entirely plausible that Franklin made these suggestions just to amuse himself. Furthermore, Franklin did not mention actually changing official time by turning the clocks forward or backward.
Daylight Savings Time can instead be credited to the New Zealand Scientist, George Vernon Hudson and the British Builder, William Willet. In 1895, Hudson proposed shifting the clock 2 hours in October and then back again in March. Though many took interest in the idea, it was not implemented at the time. Years later, William Willet independently came up with this idea as well. He observed that Londoners slept through a large part of the summer day. He was also motivated to propose the idea of Daylight Savings because he disliked having to end his golf games at dusk. So, he proposed Daylight Savings, which made the daylight hours occur later in the day so people would not sleep through them, and allow Willet to play golf longer.
Though Germany and Austria were the first countries to practice Daylight Savings, the first city to implement it was Ontario, Canada. Other areas in Canada soon adopted DST as well. Germany and Austria adopted it during World War II in order to extend the daylight hours when the citizens were awake so that they would not waste fuel for artificial lighting. Other nations, such as the United Kingdom, France and the United States followed suit.
Different groups of people have different opinions on the concept. Many farmers dislike it because they lose hours in the morning that could be used to attend to livestock. TV networks as well do not enjoy Daylight Savings because people stay at work longer and are not able to come home and enjoy the TV the networks are providing. The Chamber of Commerce, on the other hand, enjoys Daylight Savings. When there is more sunlight after work, workers are more likely to stop and shop before going home. The differing opinions continue in the question of whether Daylight Savings actually does what it was made to do: save energy. Some studies show that Daylight Savings has not changed the amount of energy our nation uses, whereas other studies say that they have disproved that claim.
Though the effectiveness of Daylight Savings is not clear, we can still enjoy longer days this spring, enjoy more time outdoors with our families, and of course, play more golf!