Be prepared to grab your clocks and spring those hands forward an hour. It’s an annual ritual we call “daylight saving time” (DST). The entire country participates in daylight saving time except for Hawaii and parts of Arizona. This year, DST begins at 2 a.m. Sunday, March 12. Contrary to myth, DST can’t be blamed on farmers wanting more light at the end of their day. In fact, farmers protested the use of DST, which meant they were up earlier than ever to milk and feed.
DST started in the U.S. with the Standard Time Act of 1918, a seven-month period during World War I to add daylight hours to conserve energy. It was implemented again during WWII year-round, also called “War Time.” The practice became a national standard in 1966 when then-President Lyndon Johnson signed the Uniform Time Act, to conserve energy. Daylight saving causes a loss of an hour for one day but allows people to get up earlier in the morning and experience more daylight in the evening during the summer months.
