Last night is the night we “fell back” an hour. It was time for Daylight Saving Time to exit, so we can get back to Standard Time. Daylight Saving Time (DST) is the practice of moving the clocks forward one hour from Standard Time during the summer months and changing them back again in the fall. The general idea — that’s much disputed — is that changing the clocks allows us all to use natural daylight better. Moving the clocks forward one hour in the spring gives us more daylight during summer evenings, while moving the clocks back one hour in the fall gives us more daylight during winter mornings.
Daylight Saving Time begins on the second Sunday in March and ends on the first Sunday in November.
Contrary to popular opinion, farmers did not/do not favor Daylight Saving Time — in fact, farmers were its strongest opponents, and as a group, stubbornly resisted the change from the beginning.
The current daylight saving period was established with the Energy Policy Act of 2005, which went into effect in 2007. Most farmers’ organizations continue to lobby Congress against the practice. They prefer early daylight to tend to their fields and a standard time sunset for ending their work at a reasonable hour.
So the argument goes on and like most things, no solution will ever please everyone. Lots of people have offered various solutions to the problem — depending on which side you’re on…
Maybe to make those unhappy with keeping Daylight Saving Time all year, we could try this… On the second Sunday of March change all schedules — church, business, schools, etc. ahead one hour. For example a business that opens at 8:00 AM and closes at 5:00 PM standard time would open at 7:00 AM standard time and close at 4:00 PM standard time. Then on the first Sunday of November they would revert to opening at 8:00 AM and closing at 5:00 PM.
Or, maybe we could….. oh never mind. Just be sure you set your clocks back an hour before you went to bed last night.
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