“Daylight Saving Time” in North America begins Sunday March 12th at 2 am. The annual ‘Spring Forward’ is now programmed right into computers, phones, and other electronic devices.
The semi-annual clock reset is also touted as a good excuse for “Check Your Batteries Day”, when you test and/or replace smoke alarm batteries. (And remember, it’s ‘Daylight Saving Time’, not ‘Savings’!)
Why do we change the Time ? The idea of ‘Daylight Saving Time’ was first proposed in 1895 by New Zealand entomologist George Vernon Hudson, and although people were interested, it never caught on.
It was tried again In 1905, William Willett came up with the same idea in London. Why? He was an avid golfer who hated cutting short his Summer rounds on the links. Again, the idea failed to catch on.
Eventually The Germans and their allies were the first to implement Daylight Saving Time as a way of conserving coal during WW1. Britain and many other European countries followed the example.
The US adopted DST in 1918, but it wasn’t until 1966 that the whole country observed it. All Canadian provinces were on DST by the 1970s, except the majority of Saskatchewan, which stays on Central Standard Time year-round.
