Goal For The Green

So, we have all Sprung forward, but WHY?  This chart shows where DST (Daylight Savings Time) is still in use and where it is not.   Blue is where it is currently observed, Orange, where it is no longer observed, and Red, where it has never been observed.

OK, so we get an extra hour of daylight when we “spring forward”, but we loose an hour of much needed sleep each March, daily.  Do we get to make-up, or get that hour back in November,  when we  “fall back” ? No, I don’t think our bodies do that.  Catch up, or make up for lack of sleep.  Ya, Right!  That doesn’t happen here!

Doesn’t it kinda feel like a big game?  Do we really save time, much less energy?

No,  it doesn’t seem like it, not when we are NOW, quickly approaching $3.00 at the gas pump, again!  Oh,  and I can’t help but wonder, how we are ever going to have a sustainable economic recovery, when any little nudge of improvement,  or any little bit of recovery in any sector, seems to raise rates or prices, overnight.  It always seems to come down to money, and big business, not any real “help” for the people.  After all, Unemployment Benefits expired recently, and they had to hurry and pull a $10M, rabbit out of their hat, to keep many people from being out in the street!

Which brings me to how did we get here, with DST, and what are the pros and cons of it?

Have you ever wondered how DST began?  Here are some tidbits of information, about its origins, and pros and cons of these time-changing events.

Did you know that Benjamin Franklin, one of the founding fathers of our nation, suggested something much like daylight saving time, in this ?

George Vernon Hudson, a postal clerk from New Zealand, was the first to propose modern DST, as we have come to know it.

Congress, first put America’s clocks ahead one hour during World War I, and again later, for WWII. Why?  At the time, the idea was proposed to save fuel needed, to produce electric power.  None, of which pertains today, but the tradition of DST, still carries on.  Instead, the extra hour of daylight, causes us to use more fuel.  Therefore, we pay more at the gas pump!

Then, Congress enacted the Uniform Time Act of 1966, in an effort to  eliminate confusion about DST across the country.

Toady, DST in the United States, now begins on the second Sunday in March, and ends on the first Sunday in November.

I don’t usually rant, but I’m just curious as to what your thoughts are on this topic.  Have you been late this week, getting use to the time change?  Do You think DST is necessary?  Go ahead sound off.. I’d like to know if it is just me, or just a bunch of hooey!

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