Turn The Clocks Back Forever, Daylight Savings Time Opponents Say

It’s time to turn the clocks back this weekend, but if opponents of Daylight Savings Time have their way, it could be the final clock change ever.

The end of Daylight Savings Time in 2013 takes place on November 3, when Americans turn the clocks back to 2 am. It means an extra hour of sleep, but a growing number of people think it isn’t worth the hassle.

A 2012 survey by Rasmussen Reports found that 40 percent of American disagree with the annual clock change, which was originally instituted during World War One as a way to delay sunrise and have Americans in bed not too long after sundown, thus saving on coal.

The problem, opponents say, is that it doesn’t really achieve the goal at all. Michael Downing, author of Spring Forward: The Annual Madness of Daylight Saving Time, notes that studies have shown the time shift doesn’t actually do anything to cut down on energy usage.

Downing isn’t the only one against the annual turn the clocks back weekend. There’s an advocacy group called Standard Time that aims to get rid of Daylight Savings Time entirely.

They claim that the shift wouldn’t have an effect on either energy consumption or productivity.

“While some people claim that they would miss the late evening light, a presumably similar number of people love the morning light. And projects, postponed during the sun filled summer, will be tackled with new vigor when the sun sets an hour earlier each day,” the group claims

There are many others who would fight to keep Daylight Savings Time. There are still a plurality of Americans — 45 percent on the Rasmussen survey — who think it’s worth it to turn back the clocks twice a year, and many other industries that benefit from more evening light. The golf industry once told Congress that an extra month of daylight savings was worth hundreds of millions of dollars.

With the debate still raging on, it’s best that people still remember to turn back the clocks on November 3.