Geer Box
My Facebook friends saw this first: “If I’m more out of it than usual on Sunday, thank daylight saving time!”
I was not alone. March 11 was the start of yet another seven months of “spring forward, fall back.” Another frantic search for the owner’s manual to reset the clock in my wife’s car. Rushing around the house, resetting clocks here, clocks there, clocks and tickers everywhere. Another hangover, minus the booze.
Daylight saving time dates back to ancient Rome, where water clocks were designed with different scales to adjust for the vagaries of the seasons. In 1895, New Zealand entomologist George Hudson proposed moving the clock two hours forward in summer so there would be more time for leisure activities ... such as collecting insects.
During World War I, the German Empire adopted Sommerzeit as a way to conserve coal for the troops. One hundred years ago this very year, America followed suit and called on farmers to use the extra hour of daylight to produce more “victory crops.”
In World War II, we again sprang forward one hour for the duration. Radio listeners tuned in to Jack Benny at “8 p.m. Eastern War Time.” The lovable skinflint even “docked” Dennis Day, Rochester, and the gang one hour’s pay in a February 1942 episode to save money as well as time.
Ever since, DST has left America in a daze. In 1965, St. Paul, Minn., switched to DST two weeks before twin city, Minneapolis.
Very confusing — but after DST was standardized nationwide in 1966, states such as Arizona, Hawaii and Indiana stayed on standard time year-round.
Daylight time still leaves me in a daze. In 1973-74, the United States went on year-round DST to save energy. I remember driving to Lindenwood University at 8:30 on a snowy January morning, just as the sun was coming up. We didn’t save all that much energy then or now. The Christian Science Monitor reported in 2010 Indiana residents actually spent more on energy during DST because of increased heating and air-conditioning use.
When DST was expanded to the first weekend of November in 2007, proponents said it would protect Halloween trick-or-treaters from being struck by cars after dark. Even so, the National Safety Council cites historical evidence that children are more likely to be struck and killed by a car on Halloween than any other night of the year.
And if you think you have trouble getting used to DST, much less your children, think of Shadow or Mittens. A study by Live Science reports pets and animals have routines, too. The scientists even recommended farmers adjust milking times at the start of DST to avoid discontented cows.
Some groups are calling for the discontinuance of DST for all the reasons mentioned above, and more. May their tribes increase.
We’d all have to adjust, but remember what Ben Franklin said: “Early to bed and early to rise makes a man healthy, wealthy, and wise.”