SHOULD WE STOP CHANGING OUR CLOCKS? - THE DILEMMA - First News for Schools
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The Big Debate
SHOULD WE STOP CHANGING OUR CLOCKS? 19 October 2018
SHOULD WE STOP
CHANGING OUR
CLOCKS?
THE DILEMMA
Some people have long campaigned to leave the However, some EU countries are reluctant to ditch
clocks on the same time all year round and avoid the the clock change so soon. And there is disagreement
faff. Others think Britain needs to align with most of over which time to keep – summer or winter time.
Europe and adopt Central European Time (CET). As Portugal, Cyprus and Poland are apparently more
it stands, we are always an hour behind almost all of keen on summer time, while Finland, Denmark and
western Europe. the Netherlands prefer winter time. Greece is thought
to be the only EU country that wants to keep DST and
In the summer, the clock switch means we make better
change the clocks twice a year.
use of the daylight available in the evenings. In the
winter, the very north of England and Scotland rely As for us in the UK, is it time to keep BST all year
on the clock change to avoid total darkness in the round? Or do the clock changes have their benefits?
mornings. If we kept BST (summer time) all year round,
sunrise in the north of the UK wouldn’t be until 10am,
At 2am on Sunday 28 October, the clocks in the UK
meaning a lot of children and adults walking to school
go back an hour. At 1am on 31 March 2019, they go
and work are at greater risk of being hit by a car.
forward again.
But most countries around the world (68%) do not
Twice a year, people in Britain and across Europe move
observe daylight savings time. What’s more, the
their clocks. In the spring, our clocks always go forward
European Union (EU) recently ran a major survey about
by an hour. In the autumn, we shift them back an hour.
moving the clocks. It received 4.6 million responses –
We observe something called Greenwich Mean Time
the highest number of any EU survey ever. The verdict
(GMT) in the winter months, and British Summer Time
was clear: 84% of European citizens oppose moving
(BST) from late March to late October (this is GMT+1).
the clocks. The President of the EU Commission (the
The summer shift is also known as Daylight Savings
organisation that suggests laws for EU countries) said:
Time (DST).
“We carried out a survey, millions responded and
The idea of adopting BST throughout the whole year believe that in future, summer time should be year-
has been debated in Parliament a few times, but round, and that’s what will happen. The people want it, The EU Commission building in Brussels.
nothing has changed yet. we’ll do it.” The change may happen before May 2019. Their DST survey had a huge response.
The Big Debate
SHOULD WE STOP CHANGING OUR CLOCKS? 19 October 2018
FACTS & FIGURES
82% of Brits who US inventor and politician
responded to the recent Benjamin Franklin,
EU survey were in favour who invented the
of abolishing clock lightning conductor, first
changes. suggested using DST as
early as 1784, but his
idea didn’t take off.
A girl in 1929 shifts the
clock back in autumn Benjamin Franklin
The Automobile A 2014 study of 23,000 When Germany switched
Association (AA) estimates children in nine countries to DST on 30 April 1916,
that around 100 lives found their activity levels during World War One,
each year would be were 15-20% higher on it became the first
saved by avoiding summer days. country in the world to
traffic accidents on dark do so. Britain and other
evenings. countries soon followed.
A poster announcing
the introduction of DST
in America
The Big Debate
SHOULD WE STOP CHANGING OUR CLOCKS? 19 October 2018
DAYLIGHT SAVINGS EUROPEAN TIME ZONES JOIN THE CLUB
TIME EXPLAINED In 1884, representatives of 22 countries met in Washington,
USA, to co-ordinate times across nations around the world. For
many centuries, sailors had used the longitudinal (lengthways)
line that runs through Greenwich, southeast London, as the
standard from which all times around the world could be set.
The meeting in Washington agreed to use this line, too. Every
15 longitudinal degrees, the time changed by an hour, leading
to 24 time zones around the world.
So if you’re wondering why Portugal has the same time as the
UK – even though it’s far further south – it’s because it runs
through the GMT line. Morocco in north Africa and the Canary The UK is scheduled to leave the EU next
Islands off west Africa share our time zone, too! year, but some people argue that it’s high
time we switch to the same time zone
as most European countries. It seems
likely now that EU nations will soon stop
shifting their clocks and keep summer
time all year, so if the UK agrees to keep
BST all year too, we’d all be on the same
time.
So how does this clock shift work? Well, DST is the DID YOU KNOW?
process of moving the clocks forward one hour from
standard time, which in the UK is Greenwich Mean A three-year experiment to
Time, during the summer months, and back again in keep BST year-round was held
the autumn, in order to make better use of natural between 1968 and 1971 in the
daylight. UK. It found an 11% fall in road
casualties in England and Wales
Moving the clocks does not create extra daylight during the hours affected by
of course, but it does mean the sun rises and sets the time change, and a 17%
at a later time by our clock. When we move clocks Greenwich Mean Time (GMT) drop in Scotland. But northern
forward an hour in spring, we add an hour of natural Scotland saw an overall increase
daylight to our afternoons. The reverse happens in Central European Time (GMT +1) in the number of people killed or
the autumn. Eastern European Time (GMT +2) seriously injured on the roads.
The Big Debate
SHOULD WE STOP CHANGING OUR CLOCKS? 19 October 2018
LONGER EVENINGS DARKER MORNINGS
Who doesn’t like more free time in the evenings, after school or work? By keeping
the clocks at BST all year round, we can squeeze an hour more daylight into our
evenings, which is not only great for outdoor activities and sport, but can also
boost our mood: several scientific studies have shown that daylight makes us
happier than darkness.
In our bodies there is a chemical called serotonin. Higher levels of serotonin lead
to more feelings of happiness, satisfaction and tranquillity. Lower levels lead to
depression and anxiety. One study found that people had higher serotonin levels
on bright sunny days than on cloudy ones, no matter if it was cold or hot. So with
a bit more daylight after work or school, our serotonin levels are likely to get a If we stop shifting the clocks back in autumn, we delay the start of the morning
positive boost. in the northernmost parts of the UK, especially Scotland. As a result, people
There’s also evidence that people who don’t walking or cycling to school/work in the mornings are more at risk of being
get exposed to enough daylight may produce involved in an accident because it’ll be much darker.
less melatonin, a hormone that regulates our There are some job sectors that prefer shifting the clocks back in the winter to
sleep. Most people produce more melatonin allow an extra hour of daylight in the mornings. Traditionally, postal workers
in the evenings, just as the body prepares for preferred to have more daylight in the mornings, when they delivered most of
bedtime. As daylight starts to enter our homes our post. But more and more post is delivered at lunchtime or even later now, so
in the morning, our levels of the hormone start this does not apply so much these days.
dropping again. In winter months when the
days are shorter, melatonin levels may peak The construction industry, however, prefers more daylight in the morning
earlier or later in the day, which can lead to because that’s when builders tend to start work. They rarely work into the
some negative mood changes. evenings but often start at 8am, so it’s important for them to have more daylight
earlier. Farmers have usually also campaigned to keep the clock shifts, too.
The Big Debate
SHOULD WE STOP CHANGING OUR CLOCKS? 19 October 2018
YES, WE SHOULD STOP NO, WE SHOULD CONTINUE
MOVING THE CLOCKS MOVING THE CLOCKS
1. MORE DAYLIGHT IN THE AFTERNOONS HAS BENEFITS – 1. MANY BENEFIT FROM LIGHTER MORNINGS – It’s dark and
It’s all very well having more daylight on the way to school or work, miserable enough in the winter – the clocks shift gives us a lighter
but it’s far more useful in the afternoons, when we can all make morning, which gives many of us us a boost on our way to work or
better use of it. It makes the roads safer, might give a huge boost school. If we scrap the change, much of Scotland won’t see daylight
to tourism, and scientific studies have shown it boosts our health to until 10am or later!
have more daylight in the evenings.
2. IT MEANS FEWER ROAD ACCIDENTS IN THE MORNINGS – It
2. MOVING CLOCKS IS A FAFF – Why shift clocks twice a year follows that lighter mornings equal fewer road accidents, because
when we really don’t have to? If we stick to summer time, we are motorists are more likely to see pedestrians and cyclists on the
likely to be in line with most of our European neighbours, too. streets.
That will make life a lot easier for businesses that work with other
countries such as France and Germany. Let’s keep things simple! 3. IT WON’T SAVE MUCH ENERGY – There is surprisingly little
evidence that DST actually saves energy. When DST was introduced,
3. WE’LL SAVE A FORTUNE – Researchers at the University of most of our energy use came from lighting and heating. But modern
Cambridge found that an extra daily hour of sunlight in winter societies use so much energy on things such as computers, air
could save the country £485 million each year, as we would use less conditioning and huge TVs, that it makes little difference to our
electricity and heating. energy use if we keep the clocks forward an hour all year round.
The Big Debate
SHOULD WE STOP CHANGING OUR CLOCKS? 19 October 2018
Do you go to school in Would you rather have Should we have the
darkness or light during the more daylight in the same time as most of our
winter months? mornings or in the European neighbours?
evenings?
DISCUSS
DISCUSS
DISCUSS
Does the clock What are the What are the If the EU countries
change twice a benefits to keeping drawbacks to stop changing their
DISCUSS
DISCUSS
year bother you? DST (summer time) keeping DST all year clocks, should we do
DISCUSS
DISCUSS
DISCUSS
DISCUSS
all year round? round? the same even if we
leave?
If you had an extra hour Does your mood Would you say you are
of evening daylight in the improve if there’s more happier in winter or
autumn and winter, would you daylight? summer?
use it to do outdoor activities?
DISCUSS
DISCUSS
DISCUSS
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