Protect the Sun!
Senate votes to rid of standard time permanently
On Tuesday, March 15, 2022, the Senate unanimously passed the Sunshine Protection Act. This would get rid of standard time (the opposite of daylight saving time) in 2023, making daylight saving time permanent and eliminating time switches.
In 2022, Daylight Saving Time will run from Mar. 13 through Nov. 6. Typically, each year in March, we spring ahead one hour, and in November, we fall back an hour. The main purpose is to make better use of the daylight by losing an hour of daylight in the morning and placing it in the evening.
Daylight saving was first proposed by Benjamin Franklin in 1784, but it was not seriously advocated until 1907 by a London builder William Willett.
The U.S. first adopted daylight saving time in 1918 during WW1, but it did not become standard until The Uniform Time Act of 1966. In the 1970s its big purpose was to reduce energy consumption, however studies found conflicting results on whether daylight saving time had any effect on the matter.
Currently in the U.S., Arizona and Hawaii are the only two states that do not observe daylight saving time.
So what do St. Kate’s students have to say about it?
Some students were for the removal of switching the clocks.
“I think the U.S. should stay in daylight savings time year-round and not have the ‘fall back’ where we lose an hour of sunlight in the fall. It's quite honestly depressing for it to become so dark out so quickly in the winter, and I think staying in Daylight Savings Time, where it's light out later in the day, would help with this,” Natalie Nemes ‘25 (English) said.
“It worsens peoples' seasonal affective disorders/seasonal depression, the week summer time is implemented is the highest rate of traffic accidents all year because peoples' internal clocks are shifting,” said Blue Edwards ‘22 (Studio Art).
Others, however, were torn between the options or they were in favor of the daylight saving time switch.
“I see both sides. It's frustrating to have to completely reset your schedule twice a year, or if you live in one of the states that don't observe time changes, scheduling things is really confusing! However, sunlight does impact us significantly more than we realize and especially in the winter, that extra bit of sunlight is really important. Overall though, I think it's more trouble than it's worth,” Kate Churchill ‘24 (Nursing) said.
“Without daylight savings, the already awfully long and sad winters will be that much worse,” Hannah Bladow ‘23 (Psychology) said.
The Sunshine Act still needs to go to the House of Representatives and then to President Joe Biden for final approval to be written into law. Until then, we can plan on setting the clocks back on November 6.
