Why can’t we just leave the clocks alone?

I’ve never understood the whole daylight savings thing. I do, however, understand losing an hour of sleep each spring. I also understand that making dinner during the black of night, at 5 p.m., is rather unpleasant. I’m not particularly thrilled about getting up in the dark either, but I choose to live pretty far north of the equator. Therefore, I’ve accepted the fact that winter means shorter daylight hours. What I still struggle with is why we have to mess with the clocks twice a year.

All I ever remember hearing as a kid, when I would ask about the purpose of daylight savings, is that it had something to do with farmers and “the war.” Even then, this seemed like a pretty vague and unsatisfactory answer. But I was too busy trying to get outside after school, before the dark descended, so I accepted it and moved on. As an adult, I set out to find the real answer and it seems daylight savings has a fairly bizarre history.

Benjamin Franklin first came up with the idea while spending time in France. Apparently, he was not an early riser and suggested a system where time was shifted to provide more sunlight during evening hours, rather than in the morning when fewer people were taking advantage of its usefulness. Franklin imagined, “how many candles would be saved,” by such a move.

Daylight Savings Time (DST) was first adopted on a national level during World War I, as an energy-saving initiative. Europeans were the first to test the idea in 1916. The U.S. adopted DST in 1918, saving precious energy resources while we were at war. In 1919, the U.S. repealed the statute do to great unpopularity. At the time, we were still a mostly agrarian society and farmers resented more hours of dark during the morning, when they began work.

When we entered WWII, President Roosevelt quickly adopted DST nationwide and called it “War Time.” Again, it was vital to preserve resources while we waged war. When WWII ended, things turned into a real mess.

The U.S. decided that each state and municipality could decide whether or not they would participate in DST and if so, when and for how long it would be instituted. What ensued for the next 20 years was downright crazy. Within each state, there could be a varying array of times, depending on your area’s participation level in DST. According to http://www.webexhibits.org/daylightsaving/k.html, one year, 23 different pairs of DST start and end dates were used in Iowa alone. For exactly five weeks each year, Boston, New York, and Philadelphia were not on the same time as Washington D.C., Cleveland, or Baltimore — but Chicago was. And, on one Ohio to West Virginia bus route, passengers had to change their watches seven times in 35 miles. It was also a logistical nightmare for any businesses that kept to a strict schedule, such as airlines and train services. This led to a 1966 law passed by Congress called the Uniform Time Act which declared DST would start on the last Sunday of April and end on the last Sunday of October. However, states were still free to create their own laws allowing them to opt out of DST. Today, Hawaii and Arizona do not participate and until 2006, only parts of Indiana took part in DST. In 2007 as part of the Energy Policy Act, the U.S. extended DST by beginning the time change three weeks earlier in the spring and ending it one week later in the fall.

Aside from the general confusion of the whole practice, there are some negatives to DST. In the week after we switch back to standard time in the fall, the number of pedestrian traffic accidents soars. It appears drivers go through an adjustment period when dusk comes earlier. There’s also still the issue of the states that don’t participate in DST. Really, it’s just a nuisance, but it irks me. Additionally, births during the autumn switch can be effected. For instance, in twin births, the first child may be born at 1:45 a.m. and the second a half an hour later. Due to DST, the second child’s birth time will be listed as 1:15 a.m.. On paper, the second child is said to have been born first. See what I mean about crazy?

So what would possess a government to institute such an odd policy? Well, there seems to be significant energy savings created by “moving” more daylight to the hours when people are most active. Additionally, DST has had some other positive side effects. Studies indicate that evening time pedestrian traffic accidents decrease during all of DST and so does violent crime. It seems crimes that generally occur during hours of darkness, such as muggings, are more prevalent during the evening hours. More daylight at that time helps lower instances. There may also be economic benefits to DST since daylight in the evening hours encourages people to go out and shop.

You may be thinking that I chose this topic to highlight the energy-saving (and thereby money-saving) aspects of DST. Yes, well that’s all well and good, too. In reality, I was pondering the topic because I am often at a loss as to what to do with my kids when the opportunity to play outside shrinks considerably. I certainly don’t want them to be a statistic in the post-DST pedestrian traffic accident column, but neither do I want them to mindlessly stare at the television.

We have great success with most crafty activities, but I’m not really crafty by nature. I need something easy as well as something that will keep them busy for long stretches of darkness. So we started making play dough. It requires very little skill, ingredients you likely have in your pantry, and a few minutes of your time.

Play dough

Materials

1 cup water
1 tablespoon vegetable oil
1/2 cup salt
1 tablespoon cream of tartar
Saucepan
1 cup flour

Directions

Combine water, oil, salt, and cream of tartar, in a saucepan and heat over medium low to medium heat, until warm. Remove from heat and add flour. Stir, then knead until smooth. The cream of tartar makes this dough last 6 months or longer. Store in an airtight container.
Don’t have cream of tartar on hand? I know I didn’t the first time I wanted to make this concoction. No problem, you can try this recipe instead:

Alternative Play dough recipe (without cream of tartar)

Materials

1 cup salt
1 cup water
1/2 cup flour plus additional flour
Saucepan

Directions

Mix salt, water, and flour in saucepan and cook over medium heat. Remove from heat when mixture is thick and rubbery. As the mixture cools, knead in enough flour to make the dough workable. Store in an airtight container.

There are oodles of these recipes all over the internet. You can even find video tutorials if you don’t feel confident trying it on your own. Do you have a favorite that I didn’t include? Share it with me at laurie@riverheadlocal.com.

Laurie Nigro is a mother of two, wife of a gardener, and co-founder of River and Roots Community Garden. Laurie resides downtown and though she came to gardening by accident, has welcomed it into her life.

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