DST research

100th Anniversary of Daylight Saving Time in the US – A Comprehensive Guide

In the year 1918, you were twice as likely to die from the flu as from heart disease. Now in 2018 it’s 10 times more likely that your heart will kill you than the flu, and life expectancy is decades longer.

1918

In 1918, about a third of us worked on farms, even with WWI going on. Now it’s about 1 percent.

In 1918 there was certainly no internet, and no television. Some of the rich had radio in their homes, but it was very rare, in part because so few homes even had electricity.

Only about one family in 50 had a car. 

In 1918 one thing started, however, that we still have today: Daylight Saving Time.

One other thing started that year that we also still have today: Hatred of Daylight Saving Time.

Brief History of Daylight Saving Time

The widespread belief, still, is that we have DST because of the farmers. That may be one of the biggest PR fabrications of all time, a total lie that persists now, 100 years later.

The truth is that a retailer in Boston, Filene’s, wanted people to have more time to shop after work. So they hired a PR firm to come up with a rationale. If they just told people it was to make more money for Filene’s, well, that wouldn’t work. (It was true then, and it’s true now, that more daylight later in the day leads to more shopping.)

So they announced a “study” showing that “the farmers” wanted DST, completely making up a bunch of total crap about fruit having more nutrition when picked with the morning dew still on it. People believed it then, and still do today.

The truth is that farmers always hated it. In those days dairy farmers would actually milk cows and deliver the milk to people that same day, before it could go bad. (See above about a lack of electricity, and there certainly were no refrigerated trucks. Pasteurization wouldn’t be mandatory in the US until 1947.) So, DST meant farmers had to get up even earlier in the middle of the night.

(Now most farmers don’t care, but DST still screws the milk producers. Cows are milked on a timed schedule, so for two weeks a year production gets thrown off because the cows don’t know why the milking is off by an hour.)

All of that doesn’t actually even matter that much, because that’s not why the US adopted Daylight Saving Time.

Why did we start?

My theory is that it was all a way to distract a population.

And — foreshadowing — that’s why we still have it.

World War I and Daylight Saving Time

The real reason we started in the US was to keep in synch with the British during the war, and the reason the Brits switched was to keep in pace with the Germans.

Why did the Germans switch? The reason given at the time was that it would save on fuel oil, much needed during the war.

That theory is largely accepted today, but I’m calling BS on that. Very few homes in Germany were heated with fuel oil in 1917, and those that were couldn’t get any fuel oil anyway.

The winter of 1917 was what’s called the “Turnip Winter.” In those days people didn’t eat turnips because… well… for obvious reasons. They were grown only because they were a cheap way to make food for cows and pigs.

But in that winter, all the meat was sent to the troops, so the people in Germany were reduced to eating turnips.

To distract the population, the government came up with A PLAN! The plan was to change the clocks by an hour in the winter.

There’s no evidence that changing the clocks did save any fuel oil, by the way.

Once the Germans changed, the Brits did, and then we in the U.S. did, too, for the rest of WWI.

When the war was over, politicians here in the US didn’t want to do continue to piss off the third of the population of voters that worked on farms, so it was scrapped. Our country had no mandate to change clocks twice per year until after Pearl Harbor.

Modern History of Daylight Saving Time

With a similar lack of science but an abundance of Do Everything Possible To Win The War, we switched to “War Time” for the years of the war.

The war changed so much of our society, with suburbs, science, medicine and all the rest, that my hunch is that we kept DST sort of as a nod to the fact that farmers really didn’t matter any more. We needed to keep the modern and nuclear age version of how we kept time.

The problem, of course, is that people hated it. So local politicians responded to the people by switching into or out of DST based on what they thought people wanted. From after the war to the early 1960s there were hundreds of different local DST moves at a state or local level.

So, the US Congress stepped in and created the Uniform Time Act of 1966, just two years shy of the 50th birthday of DST in the US. That Act took away nearly all of the ability of local jurisdictions to make up their own minds about what time zone to be in. You could either stay in Standard time year-round, or you got with the system, Bub.

Arizona, Hawaii, and Puerto Rico all decided to stay in Standard Time, but all the rest have stayed in clock-changing uniformity, as literally required by federal law.

One change of note came in 1974, right in the middle of Watergate. President Nixon thought it would be a good idea to go back to Daylight Saving Time in January. Just as with the Germans in 1917, the announced reason was to save energy, but the real reason was to distract people from Watergate.

Maybe if everyone is sleep-deprived, they’ll forget about Watergate.

Nixon probably never said that, but I wouldn’t be surprised if he thought it.

Everyone hated a sudden change to the clocks in the middle of the winter, and it didn’t distract anyone. Nixon resigned in August of that year, and Congress went back to the old style of Daylight Saving Time that fall.

And because of that, New Mexico was blocked from fixing the situation in 2017. No kidding.

What can you do today to #LockTheClock and fix DST?

If you are one of the vast majority of people who hate changing clocks twice per year, there is something that you can do.

I’m a citizen.

Awesome. You hold the power. Begin talking about this to anyone and everyone. Read more on this blog. Share the #LockTheClock hashtag. 

In short, let everyone know that we really don’t have to go through this insanity twice per year.

I’m a state legislator.

If you are here, you’ve probably already figured out that your options are limited. You know that you can’t just change your state into year-round DST because of the federal law, and a big pile of lobbyists from golf, retail, recreation and more will fight you if you try to take away the sunshine from summer afternoons and evenings and go to standard time year-round.

There’s one very narrow window that might work.

  1. If your state is all in one time zone now, and
  2. If you are on the Eastern border of your time zone.

If both of those things are true you might be able to choose to move one time zone to the east, and then take the legal option to stay in standard time year round.

That way you can do what the people want, which is year-round DST, even though it seems a little funny legislatively.

(New Mexico tried to do that, only to have the bill die on the last day of the session last year because of… wait for it… Watergate. True Story.)

The reason I say you might be able to move one time zone to the east is that the law hasn’t really been tested. You should for sure try it, and let the feds tell you that you can’t. “States rights” and “power reserved to the states” etc.

Chances are you can’t really fix it for your state alone, so what I recommend is passing a resolution. California did it with broad, bi-partisan support, and you can do it, too. If enough states pass that resolution, that will go a long way to getting Congress to fix it.

I’m a teacher.

First, thanks for all you do.

When the spring-forward clock change comes, it would be a perfect time to do a science unit. Have students run an experiment on how hard robbing people of an hour of sleep is. Then take those results and deliver them to your state legislator. Sounds like an interdisciplinary dream unit!

Is this the year we end DST?

I see many hopeful signs. The study committee in Massachusetts did great work. There’s a raft of proposed legislation coming again this year. 

The problem, as I’ve written, really is Trump. Just as Watergate was both the reason for the last big change to DST and the reason that it hasn’t changed again in the last 40 years, I don’t want to have another DST change now as a distraction from the current Trump-Russia situation.

So — and it breaks my heart to say this — I actually do not think this will be the year for the change. There’s just too much else going on.

That being said, we can and should do all we can. See what I wrote above. If you are a teacher, dive in! The kids will love it. If you are a citizen, make some noise! If you are a legislator, propose a resolution or a study committee. 

This scourge of Daylight Saving Time is bad, and while it would be poetic and lovely for it to end in its 100th year, I want to make sure that when we kill it, it stays dead forever.

Back to Basics to #LockTheClock

This spring, in the weeks before and after the time change, I did a bunch to try to #LockTheClock and stop the twice-annual insanity of changing in and out of Daylight Saving Time.

Then I got busy with the other parts of my life.

Well, I recently decided to step back and analyze the whole effort. Every bit. Every assumption, every hope, every idea.

What would the world be like after all of us join together to end the insanity?

I realized that so far, my efforts have all been in vain. 

MI-DST-testimony

Take a look:

  • I testified in four states (the photo is from my testimony in Michigan with the incomparable Rep. Peter Lucido.) In all four states, the bills died.
  • I didn’t testify in a couple dozen other states, but the bills met a similar end.
  • At least 68 people have tried to fix this with a petition. All those have gone nowhere.
  • More research comes out every month or so showing the dangers of DST clock changing, and still we are stuck with it.

Failure like that would make a lot of people… well… give up.

But, I’m an entrepreneur. Startups are the one place where failure is OK. Celebrated even.

I will not, however, keep doing the same things in the same ways, so that’s why I went back to the basics.

From that exercise, with some key help, I figured out two things:

  1. My underlying plan needs an overhaul, and…
  2. I need to make it easier for people to connect to this.

As for my underlying plan, I will let you know how that develops. I’m actually going to visit the heart of the matter, the Department of Transportation in Washington D.C. That’s where the Uniform Time Act is administered, and that’s the place with the people who understand the law better than anyone. I need to go there, and learn.

From that, I’ll come out with a new plan that works better on a technical level.

After that, the next job will be to find a way to make what can work on a technical level work on an emotional level as well.

There’s no question that many people feel the pain of DST clock changing, and aren’t afraid to express it in memes, videos, cartoons, articles and more. You can find all those on this blog.

But it hasn’t been enough. We haven’t yet reached the Tipping Point.

So, keep in touch and be sure to follow us on whatever social media is your thing to be able to learn how we’re going to be able to move forward.

Yours in sanity,

I remain,

-Scott

Daylight Saving Time is here. What can you do?

Welcome to the blog on the weekend of the deadly change. Below you’ll find lots, some of it hard-nosed, and some of it just fun.

The number of bills this year going through state legislatures is way up. The press attention is way up. It really seems like the momentum is finally moving our way.

Even this cartoon today gave me some hope.

Screen Shot 2017-03-11 at 6.23.57 PM

Even last year there would NOT have been a joke that included even the idea that Daylight Saving Time clock-changing may go away.

If you hate clock-changing, I hope you’ll do a little to raise your voice. Talk to a state legislator, even just tweet about it.

And be in touch with me to let me know what you are doing and we’ll put it on this blog.

I recently drove across Nebraska to testify to the senate there. The legislative aid said it would be great if I could do it if it wasn’t too inconvenient. I told him it WAS inconvenient, and if I only did what was convenient, nothing would ever change!

I felt like such a hero, but then just before me a young man testified and his courage really put whatever inconvenience I had to shame. It was great to watch, and you can watch it now, too:

So, if you don’t like the time change, I hope that you’ll be sure to join the Facebook Group, or follow me on Twitter

And be sure to take care on Monday morning, that’s the deadly one. I suggest you observe National Turn Off Your Alarm Clock Day.

Thanks for reading!

“I’m in favor of DST!” “I’m against it!” These two views may not be different

I talk to people about Daylight Saving Time all the time, probably more than any other human on earth.

When I do, however, I always have to be careful, because everyone has an opinion about it, and they often sound conflicting, when really they aren’t.

For instance, what does it mean when someone says they are against Daylight Saving Time?

It could mean that they like it to be darker — relative to the time on the clocks — earlier in the summer. It could mean that they like the extra daylight in the summer, they just don’t like the time change where they have to Spring Forward. It could also mean that they don’t like suddenly having it be dark when they come home from work in the fall.

They are all valid points of view, but different. I’ve tried to explain it with words forever, and then the incomparable Kirk Anderson came up with this cool graphic that does it much better:

DST-terms

I think this makes it clear that if you want to take a position on DST, you’ll want to actually take two positions:

  1. Do you want to change the clocks twice a year?
  2. If not, which time zone do you want to be in, Standard or Daylight Saving Time?

If you have clarity on those two questions, then you’ll be able to figure out what you do want.

By the way, you may be asking what I want. I’ll tell you: No more clock changing, and for Colorado I think year-round DST works best. For many other states, especially ones like Nebraska and Michigan that are on the western edge of their time zones, they may opt for year-round standard time. Whatever they want is fine with me.

The best thing for all of us would be to just stop doing the thing that is deadly, and that’s changing clocks twice a year.

2017 Guide for Legislators about Daylight Saving Time

As of this morning there are now about 24 states that are considering some modification to Daylight Saving Time.

Given that two (Arizona and Hawaii) don’t participate in the clock-changing madness twice a year, that means half the states that have legislation brewing to ditch it.

That’s the good news, and it is indeed great news.

The bad news is that every single one of those bills is doomed. Every one.

I wish it wasn’t the case, but it is. (Here’s a post on the legislative tracking site, BillTrack50, about why.)

In short, no state can act on its own. The federal government controls the time, and the controlling law is that we have uniform time zones. If one state does its own thing, the time zones are no longer uniform.

Sunrise-dst

What Can Be Done?

Luckily, there is something that legislators can do! It’s actually easier than passing a bill, it’s passing a resolution. We’ve got model resolution language right here. Or you can look at the version that passed in California.

While typically resolutions don’t do much, this one will because it will give a chance for your state to join together with California and all the other states who will be passing this resolution.

Then, as the leader of this movement, I’ll make sure that all those resolutions get delivered to Washington in a way that will make it hard for the people that matter in this to ignore.

So don’t lose heart that a bill won’t work, you’ve got another tool in the toolbox!

Background

The rest of this post is an updated version of this post, updated with the latest research.

History

Rich and complicated history. Enacted first by Germany during World War One. Adopted by Great Britain and then the U.S. shortly after.

Since 1966 controlled by federal government. Only changes allowed by the Department of Transportation have been to increase uniformity and to lengthen DST portion of the year.

Legislative Background

Many states have attempted to alter their own time zone, but the efforts typically get derailed when they learn of the control by the federal government.

Why is this effort different?

We are not asking for a law to be passed, simply a resolution. There are no binding commitments, no un-funded mandates, and no attempt to challenge the federal authority.

The resolution (full text here) simply states that it is the sentiment of that legislative body that all of the U.S. move to permanent Daylight Saving Time. Some states may want to remain in permanent standard time, and they can request that in the text of their own resolution.

Objection: “In our state the resolution is typically used just to honor citizens, etc.”

Nearly every state is like that, but that’s OK. This is an unusual problem, so it requires an unusual solution, and there are plenty of times resolutions have been used to send a message to a targeted audience. In this case the audience is the Federal Department of Transportation.

Will I face political trouble if I introduce/support this?

All of the polls (here’s one) show at least a two-to-one preference for a stop to the clock changing.

When a lawmaker in Arizona proposed that his state — one of only two that were grandfathered into the 1966 law and don’t have to change twice per year — begin changing with the rest of the country, he was so flooded with negative comments that he immediately and publicly withdrew his proposal.

Though not organized on this issue, traditional TV broadcasters have been against permanent DST because they want people to stop playing outside in the early evening and go home to watch television.

Is there any partisan angle?

No! 

The resolution that passed in California was sponsored by a Republican, but it passed both chambers controlled by the Democratic Party nearly unanimously.

If you are looking for a partisan angle, Republicans can say that they are trying to reduce government intrusion into private lives. Democrats can say that it will help the environment.

What is the science behind supporting this resolution?

Recommendation

This resolution has zero fiscal implication, wide popular support and no complicated legal consequences.

With so little risk and so high of a possible reward, I recommend that you introduce or support this resolution as soon as possible.

Great DST Progress, But How To Coach Friends?

I just looked around, and can say these seven things very clearly:

  1. I have been blogging about Daylight Saving Time for more than two years, and am now pretty much the leading voice on this admittedly very niche issue.
  2. In October of 2014 when I did a piece for CNN, I was seen of something of an oddity.
  3. In the years since, I’ve seen a ton of research come out about how bad the clock changing is.
  4. I’ve also seen a lot more bills proposed around the country. (All but one died, see item 6, below, on that.)
  5. There’s also been a noticeable shift in public opinion, based on Fall Back memes, Spring Forward memes, and just the media coverage in general.  
  6. One state (a big one) had a Republican sponsor pass a resolution that I promoted in a very Democratic legislature, showing how bipartisan this issue is.
  7. Now I’m seeing a bunch more state legislators trying to get something done. I’ll list some of them below, but it’s very encouraging.

The problem I have is this: Legislators keep trying to do a thing that I totally support in the underlying spirit, but that I’m quite certain is doomed to failure. That leaves me with two questions:

  1. How do I tell people that I support them, but that they should try something different?
  2. How do I get the word out to legislators before they introduce a (doomed) bill that there’s a better way?

I really need help on both those points. If you have suggestions, please contact me.

DST-sun-setting

Is the sun setting on Daylight Saving Time clock changing? These Canada Geese think so!

 

In the meantime, here’s what I’ve seen in terms of bills being introduced for the 2017 legislative session:

  • Wyoming. From the one story about this bill, it’s clear that the main sponsor, Rep. Dan Laursen, agrees with the overwhelming majority of Americans that the time we are in doesn’t matter as much as it’s important to stop changing the clocks twice per year. He apparently first proposed that Wyoming stay in Standard Time all year long, but ran into a buzz saw of opposition. Where year-round Standard Time might be good for some states (like Nevada), for Wyoming year-round DST seems to be best, and will certainly have the least opposition.
  • New Jersey. This one is kind of inspired, tragic, and wonderful all at once. The sponsor, Shirley Turner, is proposing a resolution calling for extending Daylight Saving Time by a week or two in the fall, making sure that it comes after the election, and not before. The fact that the time change came just before the last election was hard to miss this year. Her resolution says that in more dignified tones. It’s a wonderful resolution, avoiding the trap of thinking a bill or law that applies only to New Jersey would do any good. But it’s tragic — I think — because it just takes something terrible (the time change) and nudges it forward a small bit rather than  just eliminating it. Still, good for Sen. Turner for proposing something, rather than just doing nothing. And good for her for proposing a resolution that can get passed without much opposition.
     
  • Missouri. The Show Me state has a track record of trying to do something about DST. This bill modifies the tactic I’ve seen from Rep. Mike Kelley before of saying that Missouri will only go to permanent DST if two adjacent states also pass a law saying that they will also go to permanent DST. Similar bills have failed in the past, but maybe this year? The problem, as always, is that even a group of three states will almost certainly not be allowed to switch by the federal government. 
  • Texas. This bill is like so many other doomed bills that have gone before. It will fail, unfortunately, and even if it did pass, the Feds won’t let one state act alone under the Uniform Time Act. Hey, Sen. Menendez, I’m happy to jump on a call with you to help talk about what can work!
  • Connecticut. (No bill filed yet, but news here.) This is the first time I’ve seen any action from the Nutmeg state, so welcome to the fight, Kurt Vail! As you’ve already seen, this is a great way to get press and get your constituents talking. If one report is true, even you don’t think you’ll be able to get your bill out of committee. You are probably right. But there is a DST resolution you can get passed that will help a great deal. If California can pass it, you can, too! If I can help, just contact me.

A few other states have some early indication of action, including a reprise of past failed efforts in New Mexico and Massachusetts.

In Utah, where bills have failed for years, one state representative is proposing an official statewide vote that would allow people in Utah to voice an opinion. Sounds great! Go, Norm Thurston, go!

Good News on DST

Overall, this may seem like a lot of bad news, but really just the fact that there’s so much news is good news. There’s also been more research that I’ll be updating soon, and a LOT more press coverage, some good and some stinky, but all interesting. I’ll be covering it all.

In short, the momentum is swinging in the direction of fixing the killing aspects of the time change. With a bit more effort, I know we’ll get there.

Fall Back DST memes

Hey, welcome readers! This post is from 2016, and while it’s still funny, there’s lot’s more fun stuff. The easiest way to see it all may be just to use this DST Memes tag.

In the spring I presented a collection of memes about the “spring forward” DST clock changing insanity.

I know we get an extra hour of sleep this time, but it doesn’t feel like it. I’m all goofed up already, and I’m really dreading the sun going down before I get out of work on Monday. 

Turns out, I’m not alone. I need to go update all my research posts, and probably write a couple of new posts. Just a bit of the new reports out this year:

But to help you get through the day, especially an extra long day waiting for the election to be over, I present to you these memes that you can use however you like.

Good luck getting through the next few days and weeks.

 Trump-clock-changing.009

Dst-car-clock-meme

 

On-sunday-set-your-clock-back-one-hour-on-tuesday-be-careful-that-you-dont-set-the-country-back-50-years-132ba

Kids-Daylight-Savings-660

Daylight-savings-memes-5_1446487316913_26107815_ver1.0_640_480

Its-pitch-black-out-what-time-is-it-is-it-midnight-its-5-27-pm-1446435185

Much-worse

Screen Shot 2016-11-06 at 6.12.09 PM

Fixing DST Just Took A Huge Step, Even If The Media Missed It

Look, I was a reporter for a long time, I get it. It’s hard to do a story substantially different than what everyone else is doing.

So let me make it really easy for everyone:

The cause of fixing Daylight Saving Time clock changing just took a ginormous step forward with the passage of a resolution in California calling for an end to changing the clocks twice per year. The California resolution is based on the model DST resolution I first published in February of 2015. 

If you look at the coverage of the work of the state legislature, the resolution passing may seem like something of a footnote to the news that a bill failed.

But the bill, as readers of this site know, was doomed long, long ago. That it died last week is not news. It was dead before it was introduced, it’s just that the people who saw the body moving around thought that it had a chance at life. It never did. 

The big news is that the resolution passed when the bill failed.

Now typically a resolution has no power, it’s just an honorary thing. That’s what makes it powerful! We now have proof of what I’ve been advocating for a long time on this blog: Legislators are going to have a tough time passing a bill that will probably violate Federal Law, but they’ll have no problem voting for a resolution because they think it will have no power.

But this resolution is special. It has a hidden superpower. This resolution is The Little Train That Could.

Just look at the votes this resolution got from the very handy Bill Track 50.

DST-vote-history

It was essentially unanimous in every single vote. Here is an issue that nearly everyone agrees on, regardless of party. Any legislator who has ever asked constituents about it will tell you that it is a huge issue that brings up great passions.

There was only one vote against the resolution in the California Senate from a guy named Jim Nielsen, who is the senator from the agricultural community of Gerber, in the north-central part of the state. Lots of agriculture there, and good for Nielsen for standing up for the farmers, even if he may be a bit off on the facts.

“Our crops have gotten accustomed to that. They’ve in fact been bred to deal with that longer harvest season,” Nielsen said while arguing against the bill. “Don’t fix something that’s not broken.”

He said that in his arguments against the bill, and his side won the day and they did kill that doomed bill.

Crops, meanwhile, may have been bred for a longer season, but DST doesn’t have anything to do with seasons, only with the hours in a given day.

But, while Nielsen’s arguments against the bill may have worked on the bill, they didn’t carry over to the resolution. There were 17 “no” votes on the bill, but only one “no” vote on the resolution, from Nielsen.

(Sen. Nielsen, if you are reading this… Most people think that DST was put in place to help the farmers, but that’s never been true. In the excellent book, Seize The Daylight, the author, David Prerau, dug up the history that farmers were against the change when DST was first proposed, but the big business interests in Boston claimed that the farmers liked it. I see here that you come from agriculture, so you know better than others that real farmers work from before sunrise until after sunset, no matter what the clock says. I understand your desire to represent agriculture, but you’ll do it best by helping the sons and daughters of farmers to have more daylight after school to be able to help out on the family farm while there’s still some daylight.)

(Oh, one other thing, Sen. Nielsen… DST is — in fact — “broken.” It was started by the Germans during WWI and it’s bad for kids, victims of crime, people with bad hearts, productivity, the environment… the list goes on and on. DST is broken, indeed.)

 

What’s Next for the DST Resolution?

So, now that this historic resolution has passed in California, what happens next?

Well, the only official thing that happens is that this resolution will get sent to Congress and the President.

Unfortunately, getting Congress to do anything right now is pretty much impossible.

So, I will personally make sure that the other state legislatures are aware of this.

But to win this fight, I may need some help.

  • If you are a citizen concerned about this, contact your local legislators and let them know that if they want to pass a resolution that can really help fix things — a resolution that already passed in California with huge bipartisan support — they can do that.
  • If you are a teacher, consider doing a unit on DST, and deliver the results of your students’ research and this model resolution to your legislature if you visit the state capitol, or if you have a legislator visit your class.
  • If you are a journalist, consider doing a story about this movement. Your readers care about this issue, and are interested in real solutions.

The legislators can write the resolution however they want, but they are certainly welcome to copy the model DST resolution from this site, or the California resolution, or they can start from scratch. As long as the intent of the resolution is that the legislature and the state express a desire to end DST clock-changing, it will do the trick. If you think the people of your state for one reason or another want standard time year-round, you are welcome to advocate for that, but for nearly every state you’ll find that year round Daylight Saving Time will always be the most popular. Looking at the maps as much as I have, I really think only Michigan could potentially make the case that they’d be better off staying in Standard Time, which would essentially mean they’d join the same time zone as Wisconsin when the country switches to permanent Daylight Saving Time.

The only thing that I think is off about the California proposal is that it lacks an instruction to send the approved copy to the other states who have yet to pass such a resolution. Right now that’s all of them, except for Arizona and Hawaii, which are grandfathered in to staying on the same time year-round. But as I said, I’ll be doing all I can to make sure the other states all know about this resolution.

 

Change is hard. It takes a time and work, but thanks to Representative Jay Obernolte, the Assembly and Senate of California, it will be just a bit easier to push for change that can make a difference for the entire country.

The Clock is Ticking on the Clock Changing

The fall change has come and gone. Because this is the easy change — the one where you get an extra hour — typically the press dies off pretty quickly.

Not this year. 

I’ve been paying close attention to this issue for years, and this year I really think the tide is turning.

Just take a look at some of the press, in no particular order:

Interactive Guide

Where to hate Daylight Saving Time. This is good data, no doubt, but I actually find it to be a distraction. It makes the assumption that things are better or worse for people depending on when the sun comes up and goes down relative to the clock. The problem there is that there’s never a perfect answer there, especially for people who live north of the equator.

Those flat maps give you a hint of the problem.

Dst_normal

 

The problem is easiest to see with the map on the right. See how the zones of darkness are kind of like cones, getting bigger as you go north? The lines would look straight if you looked at them on a globe, but because they are flat they look like that because there’s just not enough daylight to go around the further you get away from the equator.

DstRules The tool that this guy (Andy Woodruff) has created is awesome, no doubt about it, and you should check it out. But read the whole post, and you’ll see that he comes to the same conclusion that all people who spend any time studying the issue come to: Permanent DST is the biggest win for the most people.

Because there’s just no way to avoid a late sunrise in the mornings for everyone in the winter, the best thing we can do is give everyone a sunset after 5 p.m.

This is the only map that has all winners, and no losers, except for those in Alaska (of course), and a few hearty souls in the northern reaches of Idaho and Maine.

(And if those two states want to take advantage of the elimination of DST clock changing and move one time zone to the east, well, this would be a good time to do that.)

 Legislative Action

A guy who I’ve followed for a while now, Sen. Cliff Pirtle of New Mexico, recently announced that he’s going to be back with a resolution to get rid of the clock changing.

Good for him!

He’s realized that states simply won’t be allowed by the feds to change time zones on their own, so he’s going the route of a resolution. He’s close, but not quite there with the legislation that I’m recommending.

His resolution calls for New Mexico changing, and only New Mexico. The problem is that the federal Department of Transportation has as one of its conditions for allowing change the notion of “uniformity.” The law that it is enforcing is called the Uniform Time Act of 1966 (15 U.S.C. §§ 260-64). They want nice, even lines.

So I’ll be contacting Sen. Pirtle and asking him to consider changing his proposal just a bit to make it so that New Mexico won’t try to go it alone, but instead will be a leader in getting all states to fix this mess. (If you see this, Sen. Pirtle, and haven’t gotten my email, contact me!)

Nevada efforts stuck

A similar resolution passed in Nevada, but hasn’t done a lick of good, according to an excellent column from Patrick Everson. Here again, if Nevada next year can pass a resolution that joins Nevada to a national effort, maybe it will make a difference. It certainly can’t hurt, and it will only add to the effort in other states so that the whole country can get out of this mess.

Sick of the clock changing, eh?

Canadians have had it with changing the clocks in and out of DST, too, it appears from some news coverage.

They are frustrated, so they wanted to take action, but unfortunately the action they took is to create a petition. It always seems like such a good idea, until you do a search and realize that there’ve been at least 30 different petitions on change.org related to Daylight Saving Time. All of them have made an identical amount of difference: Zero.

Oh, Canada! If you want to make a real change, contact me and I’ll make a special version of the legislative resolution to fix DST that will work in the provinces. 

Someone’s got a smelly bottom, and it isn’t the baby!

It’s fun to joke and laugh about DST. I certainly have, and there’s lots of mirth to go around.

But it is a life-and-death issue. Car accidents. Heart attacks. Deadly crime. The research is all there that the clock changing, especially in the spring, is deadly.

So it makes me a bit cynical that the PR team at diapers.com would create a petition, a hashtag, a graphic and the works to try to “End Daylight Saving Time.” Sure, parents do get whacked twice a year trying to get good sleep for their family, and ending the clock changing is a great goal. (They screwed up on what they are asking for, which is common, but you’d think they would have researched it. What they want is NOT to “End Daylight Saving Time” but to end changing into and out of DST.)

But it’s clear from the campaign that it’s all about raising the profile of the diaper seller, and not actually fixing the problem.

If they wanted to fix it, they could help me with my legislative proposal. Instead, they just made a petition (see above for the futility of that) and they even insult our intelligence by making the petition out to “Leaders of the free world.” Whatevs.

Hey, diapers.com… If you really want to make a difference, contact me and I’ll show you how we can get something done. Until then, consumers know when they are being hustled, and this is one big stunt.

Other news

There’s been lots more, including new research showing that we could help decrease crime if we stayed in DST year-round, more research that clock-changing is bad for your health,  and more.

David Miles is starting a petition in Oregon. (David, great spirit, but that plan is not gonna work. Contact me, let’s get Oregon into this idea that can work.)

There’s much more I could do, but my word count is already over 1,000 and there’s only so much I can ask anyone to read. Have something you think I should cover? Just let me know!

Thanks for reading.

Daylight Saving Time research — A comprehensive list

Studies on the harmful impacts of Daylight Saving Time

Books about Daylight Saving Time

Cover

 

Seize the Daylight, The Curious and Contentious Story of Daylight Saving Time, by David Prerau

 

 

 

 

SpringForward-cvr-thumb

 

 

Spring Forward: The Annual Madness of Daylight Saving Time
Book by Michael Downing

 

 

 

Government links

US Department of Transportation

Federal Law

Twitter Accounts following DST issues

 

Other websites about Daylight Saving Time

 

 

 

It’s time to get rid of Daylight Saving Time Clock-Changing

With the Spring Forward change coming up soon, the attention to Daylight Saving Time is ratcheting up.

But it seems a bit different this year.

Typically the attention from the media and most people is to just get the instructions, and move on.

Then in recent years there’s been more a sense of bemusement about the time change. People that talk about sticking with one time zone year-round get a nice pat on the head and a bit of a laugh.

There’s no question that Daylight Saving Time is comedy gold. Historians think Ben Franklin was joking when he suggested moving the clocks around to increase productivity. 

Then this video that appeared last year was a huge hit, and justifiably so:

 

But I’ve noticed a subtle shift in the tone of the coverage and the sentiment this year. What is it?

Well, first there’s the coverage of the legal efforts to end the clock-changing.

At least a 14 states by my count have some kind of legislation in some level of discussion this year. The coverage is more sober than it’s been in the past. Before a typical story would begin with some trivial anecdote. Now the stories are more like this one from Alaska.

JUNEAU — A state Senate committee has advanced a bill that would exempt Alaska from daylight saving time, a measure that its sponsor said would be good for the health of state residents.

No bad puns. No winking references. Just a straight-up news story. 

And it’s correct, too. From heart attacks and traffic accidents to problems for diabetics and those with sleep issues, there’s no question that changing the clocks is a huge public health concern.

And with the serious nature of the proposal comes resistance that’s just as serious. A different Alaskan legislator is now fighting the proposed change.

Of course, the biggest opponent to change is the United States Government, specifically the Department of Transporation.

The feds try to make it clear that they control the time zones, not the states. One state learned this very clearly. Other states will find out their efforts on this are doomed soon enough.

But the progress in the coverage reminds me of the great quote:

First they ignore you.

Then they laugh at you.

Then they fight you.

Then you win.

 

First they ignore you, then they laught at you, then they fight you, then you win.

 

(It turns out that Gandhi probably never said that, but it’s still a great quote.)

How will we win?

It’s hard to say for sure. Congress certainly doesn’t seem to hold any hope.

The state legislation percolating around the country has some promise, but each one is probably doomed by the Federal Department of Transportation.

In my home state of Colorado, a band of citizens has gotten approval to collect signatures and get a measure on the ballot for people to vote on.

I support this measure, even though I worry that all that work may be for nothing if the Feds reject this the same way they reject every other state-based effort. Supporters of that movement think that it will be analogous to the marijuana initiative: Not consistent with what the feds want, but allowed to exist anyway. Maybe they are right.

Perhaps this is Stockholm Syndrome or something, but I actually think the Feds have a point in wanting uniformity of time zones in the whole country. I don’t want people in New York to have to figure out if Denver is two or three hours different depending on the time of year. The disruption to transportation is real.

But the clock-changing must end.

That’s why I’m so pleased that some legislators are now working to pass this Resolution to end Daylight Saving Clock Changing.

It’s deceptively simple, even more simple than my original plan of trying to get states to pass a law. With this plan legislatures simply voice an opinion, an opinion supported by the wide majority of their constituents.

And if enough states pass this resolution it may act as just the bump that the Department of Transportation needs to recognize that interstate commerce is best served by keeping the states uniform AND by not allowing a time change that dramatically increases traffic accidents.

The data from the New England Journal of Medicine about increased heart attacks is compelling, but I can see bureaucrats from the Department of Transportation ignoring that. “Not my department.”

But traffic accidents? Doesn’t the DoT have a mission to ensure that we have a safe transportation system? Yes

And does the science show irrefutably that the clock change creates an unsafe transportation system?

Yes again. The science about that last point is crystal clear, thanks to another Coloradan, a PhD candidate named Austin C. Smith, who used “regression discontinuity design” and other impressive-sounding techniques to prove that the sleep disruption and the sudden change of the sunrise and sunset relative to rush-hour simply kills people every year.

Let’s put it in very clear terms:

This Monday — right after the “spring forward” change — U.S. citizens will die.

They will die in traffic accidents to that their families will seem tragic. And those accidents will in fact be tragic because they are preventable.

There is no energy savings. There is no help to farmers. There is no safety issue for school children.

There is no sane reason to keep switching into and out of time zones other than the fact that we started doing it during World War I and somehow never really stopped.

There’s no humor in that. None.

And that is why they aren’t laughing at this idea any more. They may fight it, but that’s better than laughing at it, and certainly better than ignoring it.

The fight means we’ve almost won. It seems far off, but in the sweep of history it’s very near indeed. The Department of Transportation controls this, and could do something, but won’t until they hear clearly from the states that it’s time.

It is time.

What now?

If you agree, and haven’t yet taken any action, I suggest the following:

Good: Like, tweet, share this post

Better: Write your own post, update, status or whatever and share it with your legislators and other influencers.

Best: Contact your state legislator and urge them to introduce this Resolution.

I’ve gotten emails from legislators in four states now. This thing is happening, and you can be a part of this victory if you take some action right now.

 

Model Resolution for State Legislatures to Fix Daylight Saving Time Clock-Changing

Here is a model language for a resolution that legislators in any state can freely.

Title: Stop Dangerous and Antiquated Clock-Changing Federal Daylight Saving Time Mandate

WHEREAS the history of changing clocks relative to the sun for political reasons originated with Ben Franklin, who proposed re-orienting the time to increase productivity as an elaborate practical joke;

WHEREAS the United States has used some version of “Daylight Saving Time” since 1918 when it was rushed into place as a wartime measure after Germany and then England enacted a similar scheme;

WHEREAS after World War I local jurisdictions had some control over how they set their clocks until the passage of the Uniform Time Act of 1966, which mandates that every state participate in the practice of changing the clocks twice per year unless they opt for permanent Standard Time;

WHEREAS uniformity among the 50 states is essential for interstate commerce, even with Arizona and Hawaii having opted for permanent Standard Time;

WHEREAS “Daylight Saving Time” has proven highly beneficial in the early spring, late fall and summer months for health, commerce, recreation and much more, making it highly popular among businesses and the general population;

WHERAS a recent poll showed 68 percent of U.S. residents gave support for Permanent Daylight Saving Time, with only 14 percent opposed;

WHEREAS the overwhelming conclusion of researchers is that the act of changing the clocks twice per year is the direct cause of deadly heart attacks, traffic accidents, workplace injuries, pedestrian deaths, crime, suicides, sleep disruption, and a loss of productivity;

WHEREAS researchers have determined that remaining in Daylight Saving Time year round will save significant amounts of energy in November and February and furthermore will lead to a decrease in childhood obesity by increasing the amount of sunlight after school hours and decrease smog in the winter because rush hour will happen more in the daylight; 

WHEREAS the rationale for switching clocks twice per year to aid in the war effort — while based on faulty science — may have been laudable more than 100 years ago, all scientific research and public sentiment in Colorado now clearly favor remaining in Daylight Saving Time year round.

NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED by the Legislature of the state of Colorado that it is the sentiment of this legislative body and of the people represented by this body that the United States should change what is currently “Daylight Saving Time” to the new “Standard Time” and stay with that time year-round;

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that this Resolution be delivered to the President of the United States, and the Colorado delegation in the U.S. Congress urging passage of any legislation that would put an end to the deadly, energy-wasting, productivity-killing, twice-yearly clock changing.

SIGNATURES

News about getting rid of Daylight Saving Time

When the DST piece I wrote on CNN appeared, and then the fall time change happened, there was an understandable surge in interest.

Then I got busy at work, and Thanksgiving, bla bla bla, here I am a month later posting the next blog post. (Not great for a guy who’s day job is about the importance of blogging regularly.)

Suddenly this week there’s a surge of activity related to getting rid of all the dumb clock changing into and out of Daylight Saving Time.

In my home state of Colorado, a personal trainer and his wife have made it their mission to stay in DST year round. See their story here, and the page they set up here

I wrote to Sean Johnson, the guy leading that group. I really want to encourage him, because any efforts to raise awareness are great. Respectfully, I tried to point out to him that his efforts in the particular direction he’s headed may not work. Several state legislators have learned this lesson the hard way: The federal government just won’t let states set their own time zone. That’s what the law in 1966 was all about.

I’m hoping that he will take his considerable talents and motivation and direct it toward a plan that could really work. All the other efforts since 1966 have failed, and I fear his will, too.

What’s the plan? It’s outlined in the posts below, but basically it’s to go to state legislatures and ask them to pass a bill that says, essentially: “If at least two-thirds of the states pass a similar bill, we will petition the Federal DOT to stop the clock changing.”

You see, it’s only with a huge majority of states moving at the same time that the feds will hear the voice of the people. One state at a time, the feds will always win.

Even if the state is as big as Texas.

I read this morning that Rep. John Frullo of Texas wants to get the Lone Star State to stop switching in and out of DST. That’s awesome, of course. 

(One note: He’s advocating that Texas stay in Standard Time year round. In Texas, as in Arizona, that might be OK because of the long days and the heat in that state, not to mention that Texas is at the far western edge of the Central Time zone, so it has plenty of light in summer evenings. In most other states the golf and recreation industries will fight to keep states in Daylight Time year-round.)

I wrote to Rep. Frullo and encouraged him to consider carrying a bill following the two-thirds plan. If he can get that signed by the governor of Texas, that will go a long way to getting this plan rolling and may be the quickest way for Texas to actually be able to stop all the clock changing.

(One other side note, if you watch that TV spot, the reporter says that DST started in the early 1900s “to accomodate people working out doors.” Baloney. That was never part of the initial thinking. Germany was the first country to use DST and it was to conserve fuel for WWI. Britain and the US soon followed suit.)

Not sure why all the Daylight Saving Time news is from the West, but the one other state looking at this up close this week is Utah. There a popular radio show is hosting a discussion about DST. They’ll have the author David Prerau on. He wrote Seize the Daylight: The Curious and Contentious Story of Daylight Saving Time. When I got into this issue I devoured that book, it’s very very good.

That show will also have two state legislators on. I hope the host will ask them what they think of the two-thirds idea as a way to make progress on this.

If they do, I’ll be sure to report back here and put a link up to that conversation.

 

Do you want to change the world?

This effort to end all the clock changing is going to get a major boost here as the time change thing happens yet again the first weekend of November.

I’ve got a detailed and thorough plan to get us out of the clock-changing madness, but I can’t do it alone.

Do you want to be able to tell your grandchildren that way back in the olden days the government made us change our clocks for no good reason twice per year, but that you were a part of the movement that ended the silliness? Yes? Then please contact me.

Here’s a short list of what I think we could use right off the bat. If you have some other skill you’d like to offer, please let me know, or just go for it.

  1. Project Management. If you write to me, I’ll send you the plan as it exists now. (We are keeping it under wraps to give an exclusive to a BIG media operation.) The plan is ambitious and requires coordination. We could use one really great person to manage this nationally and then one person in every state other than Arizona and Hawaii, where they already don’t change the clocks twice a year.
  2. Public Relations. At a high level, the strategy is now done for this thing, but as any PR pro knows, the strategy isn’t what makes a success, it’s the work. We could use at least 50, and probably more like 60 or 70 people to help get the word out about this effort in every state and region.
  3. State Lobbyists. We don’t need a lot of lobbying here, we have a secret weapon for that. We could use one good person in each state mostly to keep your ear to the ground and let us know about any opposition to our soon-to-be-revealed plan. If there is, we will be able to counter it, but we just need to know what’s going on.
  4. Federal Lobbyists. Again here we don’t need any hard lobbying, we just need eyes and ears, especially if you have any connections with the Department of Transportation. We do NOT need to lobby the U.S. Congress.
  5. Bloggers. I run a content writing service. I know that lots of great content makes all the difference in the world. If you want to blog on this site, just let me know and we’ll post what you’ve got. If you want to blog on your own site, go for it! We’ll link to it from here.

With all of these positions, there’s no money. There’s only the chance to make the world a better place.

Also there’s some glory. We’ll be very good about highlighting successes and showing what works to everyone, and the world will know that you were a key part of this unlikely, unusual campaign.

I’m no project manager, but I’ve taken some first small steps by creating a project board here. If a real project manager has a better idea, I’m all ears, but it seems like that’s as good a tool as any to keep track of our progress.

So, I ask you… What are you going to do to change the world?

Come and join this revolution!

Time for a change?

This is the first post on this blog, and I’m using this as a placeholder. Soon this will be replaced with a version of a very long piece regarding the plans to switch us to permanent Daylight Saving Time.

Then, this will be where we’ll post other news, research, and approaches to help us in our quest to stop the clock-changing insanity.

Please send any other blog topics via the contact page. Or better yet send whole blog posts and we’ll post them and give you credit.

Thanks!