By Izhaan Ahmed
On March 15, 2022, the U.S. Senate unanimously passed the Sunshine Protection Act, a bill that would remove the time change for daylight saving time by 2023. The event succeeds years of reluctance to change the system.
Daylight saving is the event of moving clocks forward by one hour in order to obtain the most amount of sunlight in the sky later in the day during warmer months. However, this system of winding clocks back and forth twice a year has been co-sponsored by members of both parties to be repealed by 18 of the 100 senators, in favor of a permanent daylight saving time, a change that may occur by next year.
Established in the United States a little over a century ago, daylight saving has always remained a contentious and erratic ritual of American standard time. In the winter of 1974, a change similar to the one proposed for 2023 took effect, but was swiftly repealed the following year due to complaints of workdays and school days starting in the dark. Arizona and Hawaii are the only two American states that do not observe daylight saving due to their hot climate, making such a change counterintuitive. More disagreement is involved in local adherence to the time shift; for instance, in locations where Indigenous Americans reside, the people have the ability to follow whichever time shifts they prefer.
Source by Sabeena Ramdarie
The very way many states perceive the way that time works has changed as daylight saving has become permanent.
Notably, many voices that would have dissented against this vote were not aware of its existence; for instance, senator Tom Cotton, a supporter of the time shift, proclaimed that he would have objected to the bill’s passing had he been aware of it ahead of time. As a result, despite the unanimous decision by the Senate, it is unknown whether this bill will pass in the House of Representatives.
Students from NHP have their own perspectives on daylight saving time.
“I think daylight saving is an outdated concept, and I hate losing sleep because of it. I think we should stop following it because it doesn’t serve a purpose in society anymore,” junior Ethan Siegel said.
“Personally, I noticed that there is more daylight in the evenings, which makes it safer to walk home from school if I’m staying at school late," sophomore Linda Cheung said. "However, daylight saving time shifts were more useful many decades ago since the concept was invented to save on fuel for artificial lighting. In the present day, the system is no longer useful because the negatives of it outweigh the positives; changing our bodies' circadian rhythm leads to changes in mood stability and metabolism, so it makes more sense to stick with either daylight saving time or standard time.”
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