Fielder’s Choice - Barry Burleson

We all remembered to “fall back” an hour last Saturday before bedtime. Or maybe you got up at the official time, 2 a.m., and changed your clocks. Or I’m sure even some of you were even wide awake at 2 a.m.

I got into one of those discussions last week about – “Why change the time at all?”

I tend to agree. Personally, I prefer Daylight Saving Time, when we move an hour of daylight from the morning to the evening. And by the way, it is officially Daylight Saving Time, not Daylight Savings Time.

Daylight Saving Time is intended to conserve energy by taking advantage of natural daylight. The concept was introduced in 1907 by British developer William Willet in his pamphlet, Waste of Daylight, though the idea wasn’t adopted until World War I by the German government.

I’ve been in the newspaper business full-time since 1984. I can remember very few days when I got home before 5 p.m.

When I’m running late, under Daylight Saving Time I can still enjoy some time outside with the family, even when the temperatures drop a bit. Or I can rake the leaves or play with the dog or whatever.

I took that approach growing up, too. I was an outside kid. I could shoot basketball on the goal nailed to the pine tree until almost 8:30 p.m. and still get in the house in time to do my homework.

For many years now, most of the United States has observed Daylight Saving Time from 2 a.m. on the first Sunday of April to 2 a.m. on the last Sunday of October.

Next year it’s time for a change. In 2007, the period of standard time lessens. We get more Daylight Saving Time.

On August 8, 2005, President George W. Bush signed the Energy Policy Act of 2005. This Act changed the time-change dates for Daylight Saving Time in the U.S. Beginning in 2007, Daylight Saving Time will begin on the second Sunday in March and end the first Sunday in November.

More specifically, in 2007, Daylight Saving Time starts on March 11 and ends on November 4. Then in 2008, it starts on March 9 and ends on November 2.

In other words, we get approximately four months of standard time this time around before switching back to Daylight Saving Time on March 11.

Arizona (with the exception of the Navajo Nation) and Hawaii and the territories of Puerto Rico, Virgin Islands, Guam and American Samoa, are the only places in the U.S. that do not observe Daylight Saving Time but instead stay on “standard time” all year long. And if you spent any time in the sweltering summer sun in those regions (which I haven’t), you understand why residents don’t need another hour of sunlight.

More than one billion people in about 70 countries around the world observe Daylight Saving Time in some form.

It wasn’t until 1996 that our NAFTA neighbors in Mexico adopted Daylight Saving Time. Now all three Mexican time zones are on the same schedule as the United States.
In Japan, Daylight Saving Time was implemented after World War II by the U.S. occupation. In 1952, it was abandoned because of strong opposition by Japanese farmers.

Time, whether Daylight Saving Time or standard, actually flies. So in the short run or the long one, this all doesn’t really matter. Our life evolves too much around a clock anyway. We face those time deadlines every week here at The South Reporter.

Personally, I just don’t like leaving work when it’s already dark. But March 11 will be here soon enough.

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