“Only the government would believe you could cut a foot off the top of a blanket, sew it to the bottom, and have a longer blanket.” This unknown quote from Under the Cover of Darkness: How Ambient Light Influences Criminal Activity illustrates the absurdity of daylight saving time (DST). DST is the changing of clocks twice a year to increase sunlight in the evening, ostensibly for several reasons. Energy savings are the most frequently cited reason; however, this argument dating back to Ben Franklin has been proven false. Additional reasons DST proponents cite include lower health problems, lower accident rates and lower crime rates. These supposed benefits that result from DST are fictitious as well. The costs of DST outweigh the benefits of continuing the practice; as a result, the United States will benefit by ending the practice of DST.
To begin, the idea and history of DST must be answered. According to the World Book Encyclopedia, “Daylight Saving Time is a plan in which clocks are set one hour ahead of standard time, so that darkness comes an hour later.” (54). The idea of shifting
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The California Energy Commission found that DST resulted in “...virtually no difference in consumption...” (par. 7). Furthermore, the National Geographic article, “Time to Move On? The Case Against Daylight Saving Time” interviewed Professor Kotchen of Yale. In his 2008 study for the National Bureau of Economic Research, Professor Kotchen found that “lighting demand dropped, but the warmer hour of extra daylight tacked onto each evening led to more air-conditioning use, which canceled out the gains from reduced lighting and then some...” (par. 9). As a result, study participants paid higher electricity bills. Also, the study did not take into account emissions that would result from increased travel in the evenings when DST increases the amount of
According to the National Bureau of Economic Research, DST increases overall energy consumption by “approximately 1 percent” (Kotchen) and rises to 2-4 percent in the fall. The use of air conditioning, television, lighting, and other appliances causes the residential energy demand to
Four-day weeks are a blessing from Jesus, at least back when I went to my Christian private school. All jokes aside, I loved those four day weekends, as they saved the school money, allowed me to relax, and let me finish my homework. Three-day weekends cooled everything off and helped me to be ready and refreshed to go back to school. Now that I am back in public school, this nice comfort no longer exists. This is why I would love to have a four-day week again, to have everything better in general.
Ben Hogan, a famous golfer, once said, “ the only thing a golfer needs is more daylight”. Daylight saving time not only impacts the world’s golf games, it also affects the economy, outdoor activities and comes with many health concerns.Daylight saving time(also know as DST) was used as a way to save energy and have more natural light in the summertime, but it was as affected and it also came with many consequences to the countries and states that still use this time. It was first used in the USA in 1918 and has been on and off for many years , but now DST is used seven months out of the year. There are two times during the year we change the clocks. The first Sunday in March, we “spring forward” with the clocks and the second Sunday in November we “fall back” one hour. However, daylight-saving time should be abolished from the rest of the world that uses this time throughout the year.
The notion of circadian rhythms was first documented in the eighteenth century when it was determined based on observation that the closing and opening of heliotrope plant leaves occurred independently of sunlight, which was recorded by the French astronomer de Mairan. It is clearly evident now that almost all surfaces of physiology exhibit rhythmic oscillations from the simplest of bacteria to us human beings (10). As a biological clock, circadian rhythms develop to accomplish a steady entrainment to environmental cycles such as light. Additionally, circadian rhythms also serve two main functions, which is to measure the duration of time and to track the time of the day. These two functions are intertwined with one another being that both
Just like all of Earth’s green, society too has found a simple way to use the sun to its fullest potential. Daylight Saving Time is a function that has allowed us to enjoy longer summer days simply by moving our clocks an hour ahead in the spring. This method had became something to consider since Ben Franklin idealized it. Of course it's not the same for everyone, depending on where you are may change when Daylight Saving Time occurs. Although some may say Daylight Saving Time is pointless, it is vital that DST has its benefits.
A common argument made against standard time is that daylight savings time prevents road accidents because of the abundance of natural light at times that most people drive. However, is it worth it to disrupt the circadian rhythm so that drivers have more natural light? The governments have implemented lighted highways and roads and cars are equipped with headlights to aid in vision. While lighted highways consume energy, the claim that daylight savings time contributes to less energy consumption is contradicted by research efforts. Indiana did not adopt daylight savings time until 2006, thus making it the perfect environment for a study on the correlation of energy consumption and daylight savings time. According to Brian Handwerk, the “lighting demand dropped, but the warmer hour of extra daylight tacked onto each evening led to more air-conditioning use, which canceled out the gains from reduced lighting and then some.” Along with this study, researchers have argued that energy consumption may be lower in the evening, but consumption goes up in the dark mornings thus making the results equal. According to another study conducted by Hendrik Wolff, everywhere that has air conditioning takes a loss in regards to daylight savings time. In the long run, day light savings time does not have a significant impact on energy consumption thus being
Daylight Saving Times is something we do here in the United States every year, where we move our clocks back an hour in the fall, and move them forward an hour in the spring. Daylight Saving Time was established during WWI in order to save energy for war production by taking advantage of the later hours of daylight between April and October. Although it was said to save a lot of energy, today it is extremely difficult to determine the energy saved by this, and it is possible that little or no energy is being saved by Daylight Saving. Which poses the question: Is Daylight Saving necessary in the United States? There are many pros and cons to it, but the cons outnumber the cons, and something should be done about it.
Imagine students being able to grab their lunch and being able to eat all of their food and not having to rush to get to recess, well students could do this if Wilson Southern Middle School had longer lunch. Students entered the class, starving because they couldn’t finish their lunch. I think we should have longer lunch time. Students will be able to catch up on work, it's healthier, and we won’t waste as much food. Our lunchtime should be longer.
According to data from the U.S. Department of Energy, “...by extending DST by just one month, it could save the country approximately 0.5% of its annual electricity usage, or 1.3 trillion watt-hours in total. That amount could power 100,000 households for a year.” While it's true that daylight saving may lead to short-term reductions in energy consumption, the overall impact on energy usage is small and often overshadowed by increased demand for heating and cooling during the altered hours of daylight. Saving money is a big argument for why we should keep daylight saving, but the positive effects of it are often overstated. A study by the research firm Chmura Economics & Analytics says that “we estimate that Daylight Saving Time costs the U.S. more than $430 million a year”.
Have you ever stayed up too late? At one time or another most people have probably experienced that feeling where their eyes start to droop and blur. It’s their body telling them they need to sleep… But do they? Many people might think losing a night’s sleep or not sleeping enough is not a big deal, but in fact, continuously lacking sleep does affect people in a bad way. People should know the healthy amount of sleep they need and some solutions to sleeping problems. Sleep deprivation causes physical and mental effects on the human body and can be directly responsible for many fatal accidents.
Climate change. The two letter word so feared by scientists, so ignored by the average human being. What is it that makes scientists fear this phrase so much? For the concept of “climate change” has been seen throughout the history of the earths existence. For centuries, our climate has fluctuated through increasing and decreasing amounts of atmospheric carbon dioxide and climatic cycles. So what is the big deal? The problem, and the reason why this concept instills fear directly into the core of scientists is the rate at which over the past 1,300 years atmospheric carbon dioxide levels have risen. This unnatural increase in atmospheric carbon dioxide, due to the immense amount of anthropogenic burning of oil and coal, affects the transfer
As a result of seasons, it change the length of day and night can vary by a few hours. When you see the sun shining in the sky it is day time and when you don 't see the sun shining in the sky it is night time. This is why we see the sun moving across the sky starting in the east in the morning and moving towards the west in the evening. Also the sun moves across the sky because the earth rotates on it’s axis. In this diagram it shows the day and night of the earth, against sunlight directly shining on to one side of the
My parents grew up in small town in Mexico. There was a little river that went through part of the town when they were growing up. Every weekend or so they would go out and would go swimming with their families, it almost became a tradition to go swimming there until they noticed that the river 's water level was becoming smaller and smaller. Today there is no river anymore, instead it 's a road that travels through the town. Every time I visit my family in Mexico it would alway be nice and warm up until this year when I went in December. I remember waking up and getting ready to go to my aunt 's house in clothes for warm weather. As I open the door, the cold air punch me and I saw snowflakes falling down. It 's not supposed to snow in that
Even if the reason of climate change may be the natural cycles, we humans are the major determinant to it. The huge amount of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere is causing the climate change and this amount is rising day by day, as a result of our actions. Greenhouse gases, like carbon dioxide, generally absorb and emit the heat in the atmosphere to keep the Earth’s climate habitable. However, as we continue to burn fossil fuels, this habitable Earth’s temperature will blow up, and as a result, some species will die out due to various problems which are caused by climate change. According to EPA (Environmental Protection Agency), the most obvious consequence of climate change is the rising sea levels, which will cause some seashore habitats to become unavailable to live to its species.
Sleep is extremely important for your health. Not getting adequate sleep every night can increase the risk of obesity, diabetes, high blood pressure, heart disease and depression. Diseases also have an affect on sleep and can cause delayed sleep, advanced sleep or irregular sleep-wake cycles which can affect daily life. Waking earlier means you are tired earlier and waking later could mean you are tired for work in the morning. In conclusion, many things can alter the biological clock and by using melatonin and light treatments, it could solve some sleep disorders and help regulate sleep-wake cycles in those with other types of diseases.