Welcome to Daylight Saving Time. Originally created to save electricity because of the added evening daylight hours, new studies now show that those savings are more than offset by higher heating and cooling costs. Oops! Here's a video that explains it.
For the past two years, we've been in an "extended" DST pattern, because the Republican congress thought it would save more money. Wrong! Now it's going to take another act of Congress to either change it back to the way it was, or eliminate it altogether, because there's no 'Sunset' provision in the law.
There's also the effects on our inner clocks. I know I'll feel jet-lagged for a week or so, and I didn't even get to go anywhere. That lost hour also impacts on our driving. Police statistics confirm that the Mondays after the springtime change are worse than usual for traffic crashes.
What it also does, for the next month or so, is keep sending kids out in the dark to wait for the school bus, make them less alert for the first hour of class and, as evening daylight keeps getting longer, less inclined to come inside to do homework or study.
And what about the cows? It takes them a week or so to adjust to the new milking schedule, too.
There was supposed to be an economic boost to Daylight Saving. Because more people are out doing more things, and spending money when daylight lasts longer into the evening. The law of unintended consequences: A plan to save energy and money does neither, but could be good for the economy. It probably helps coffee sales.
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