Fishing on the Net

By Bonnie Nelson

Daylight Saving Time gives us the opportunity to enjoy sunny summer evenings by moving our clocks an hour forward in the spring.  Yet, the implementation of Daylight Saving Time has been controversial since Benjamin Franklin first conceived of the idea. Even today, regions and countries routinely change their approaches to Daylight Saving Time.

The idea was first advocated seriously by London builder William Willett (1857-1915) in the pamphlet, “Waste of Daylight” (1907), that proposed advancing clocks 20 minutes on each of four Sundays in April, and retarding them by the same amount on four Sundays in September. As he was taking an early morning a ride through Petts Wood, near Croydon, Willett was struck by the fact that the blinds of nearby houses were closed, even though the sun had fully risen. When questioned as to why he didn’t simply get up an hour earlier, Willett replied with typical British humor, “What?” In his pamphlet “The Waste of Daylight” he wrote:
“Everyone appreciates the long, light evenings. Everyone laments their shortage as Autumn approaches; and everyone has given utterance to regret that the clear, bright light of an early morning during Spring and Summer months is so seldom seen or used” (http://webexhibits.org/daylightsaving/c.html).

Last year a new federal law took place in regards to Daylight Saving Time—Springing Forward in March--Back in November.   In Aug. 2005, Congress passed an energy bill that included extending Daylight Saving Time by about a month. As of 2007, DST starts the second Sunday of March and ends on the first Sunday of November.

More than one billion people in about 70 countries around the world observe DST in some form. Here are interesting facts about some of these countries (http://www.infoplease.com/spot/ daylight1.html):
* Most of Canada uses Daylight Saving Time
* In 1996 members of the European Union agreed to observe a “summer-time period” from the last Sunday in March to the last Sunday in October.
* Most countries near the equator don’t deviate from standard time.
* In the Southern Hemisphere, where summer arrives in what we in the Northern Hemisphere consider the winter months, DST is observed from late October to late March.
* Three large regions in Australia do not participate in DST. Western Australia, the Northern Territory, and Queensland stay on standard time all year. The remaining south-central and southeastern sections of the continent (which is where Sydney and Melbourne are found) make the switch.
* China, which spans five time zones, is always eight hours ahead of Greenwich Mean Time and it does not observe DST.
* In Japan, DST was implemented after World War II by the U.S. occupation. In 1952 it was abandoned because of strong opposition by Japanese farmers.

Bonnie Nelson is a freelance writer living in Fountain, CO.  If you have comments or questions email her at waltbon@comcast.net

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