DAYLIGHT SAVING TIME
I got an email from my mother and she told me that daylight savings time in the US was last night. It seems earlier than usual. I thought about it in France. I had no idea when it was in France but I knew it was not at the same time because there were times when there was less of a time difference. I did a quick search online and found this on the US Embassy site.
On the last Sunday of March, France and many other countries “spring forward” by setting their clocks, watches and alarms one hour ahead, for a period of seven months.
“Time change” was reestablished in France in 1976. Of British origin, the idea of putting the official time forward one hour during the summer was instituted in France for the first time in 1916. Eliminated after the Second World War, it was then reinstated in 1976, following the first oil crisis in 1973. It was justified as a means of economizing energy since the Government sought an annual savings equivalent to 300,000 tons of oil.
Throughout the years, the system has been adopted by 108 countries worldwide with some variations throughout Europe. In December 2000, European Union authorities decided to continue with the system indefinitely. Daylight saving time (DST) comes into effect on the last Sunday of March and ends the last Sunday of October.
There you have it, the last Sunday of March we spring forward. The date exactly is March 30th. Happy almost spring.
In the US, as you know, they claim it’s to have more daylight during the “fun” summer months, but I really don’t see how an hour changes much of anything. And beside all that, I prefer the coolness of night to the blazing heat of the day. I don’t know if you’ve ever been in South Florida during the summer, but it’s really, really HOT!
I always thought it had to do with the railroads or farming seasons. I’ve never been to South Florida but I can imagine it gets hot.
The French call it “summer time,” heure d’été. Conversely, we’re currently still in “winter time,” heure d’hiver.
Benjamin Franklin originally proposed daylight savings time to the French when he was ambassador to France on the basis that people should get up and retire with the sun to save on the cost of candles. I just read that in the New York Times (I think).
I can vaguely remember Paul Groth, do you remember him Walt, in Wurster Hall talking about something related to Daylight savings time and the railroads. It’s all so vague that I could be entirely mistaken. I was not in the landscape architecture program so the only classes I took of his were The History of the US Built Environment. They were fascinating classes. The only think I didn’t care for was his fascination with grain silos, phallic maybe? He was a fixture in Wurster but maybe you were above the gossip.