Daylight savings time - Don't forget to change your clocks

Spring forward, fall back.

But why?

The reason the United States and many other countries, mostly in the West, shift to daylight saving time is contentious and confusing, and some of the more popular explanations are not grounded in reality. (It isn’t for farmers, as you may have learned in school.)

The general concept is to move an hour of sunlight from the early morning, when many would sleep through it, to the evening, when you could most likely do more with the light.

“For most people, an extra hour of daylight in the evening after work or after school is much more usable than the hour of daylight in the morning,” said David Prerau, the author of “Seize the Daylight.”

But since the idea was put in place, it has faced detractors and debate. Several states, including California and Rhode Island, are considering abolishing the practice. As with many other congressional acts, it’s worth considering who the beneficiaries are.

Who Profits?
Extra daylight means extra time to spend money.

And if you’re in the United States, you’re probably going to get in your car to go spend that money.

“Americans really do leave their homes when there is more sunlight at the end of the day,” said Michael Downing, a lecturer at Tufts University and the author of “Spring Forward: The Annual Madness of Daylight Saving Time.”

“We go to the parks, and we go to the mall, but we don’t walk there,” he said. “Daylight saving increases gasoline consumption.”

No one is more aware of that than gas stations, which is why the Association for Convenience and Fuel Retailing, a lobbying group for convenience stores, has pushed to start daylight saving time earlier in the year. In 2010, Jeff Miller, the group’s chairman at the time, said the industry had added an estimated $1 billion in annual sales since the organization lobbied to add a month to daylight saving in 1986.

“That’s tens of billions of dollars in sales since then,” he said in a news release.

Those in the leisure industry have also benefited, Mr. Downing said. For example, he said, the Chamber of Commerce has lobbied on behalf of retailers that sell gardening, home repair or sports equipment. Lobbyists from the golf industry estimated in 1986 that an extra month of daylight saving would be worth $200 million to $400 million.

By Daniel Victor
New York Times

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