archivesfoundation: Good morning! Did you remember to set…

archivesfoundation:

Good morning! Did you remember to set your clocks forward one hour for daylight savings time?

The concept was first proposed in 1895 by George Hudson of New Zealand, but the first widespread implementation of the adjustment wasn’t until 1916 when Germany and Austria-Hungary used daylight savings time as a way to conserve coal during wartime. Britain, Russia, and the United States followed the practice, implementing it over the next two years. 

After the war, however, many countries discarded the idea of daylight savings time until it was picked up again during World War II. Some countries adopted it later to help alleviate the 1970s energy crisis.

There has been research on the benefits and drawbacks of the time change, including energy use, economic effects, public safety, and health benefits. Not everyone was in favor, seen here in this cartoon depicting opposition to daylight savings time by Clifford K. Berryman.

Image: “Opposition to Daylight Savings, 5/25/1922“ 

The cartoon shown in this is ‘opposition to Daylight Savings’ from 1922 .. And the hard core feelings revolving around the issue have not gone away.. 

This morning, like you most likely, I woke up trying to figure out which clock was accurate and hoping that I would be able to find the universal clock online just to make sure all was well.. 

It is confusing.

But my vote is actually IN FAVOR of clock changes twice a year. It feels like the clocks move us as much as we move them.. it feels like they can generate spring time energy when we have light longer.. and as we should hibernate when we decide to fall back.. COUNTING CROWS sing about it..