What is the most meaningless thing every Texan will do at the same time this weekend?
You guessed it. We will "fall back" when our clocks are set backward one hour in observance of daylight saving time.
This strange practice has an interesting history. In 1784, Benjamin Franklin published a critical essay in a French newspaper suggesting that Parisians could save $200 million through "the economy of using sunshine instead of candles". Therefore ， many people owe the origin of the idea of daylight saving time to our Founding Father's writings. In the United States, the clock-changing practice began just over 100 years ago, in 1918, when Congress decided to control time by passing the Standard Time Act to save energy and create time zones. Back then, coal was our top energy source and ensuring that Americans had more daylight working hours made sense.
In 2008, the U. S. Department of Energy assessed the effect of observing daylight saving time on national energy consumption. It found that resetting our clocks amounts to a reduction in our total energy consumption of 0. 02%. The study also determined that sticking with one time could actually save about 0.5% of electricity per day nationwide. Apart from this, the risk of heart attack increases 10% in the days following springing forward, most likely caused by the interruption of biological rhythms. Studies also indicate we are more likely to get sick, we are less productive, and frankly we are just exhausted directly following the time change.
It is hard to explain why we still change our clocks. Perhaps it is due to special interests. Congress passed the Energy Act of 2005, which extended the length of daylight saving time an extra week in the fall, in large part due to an effort by candy producers to allow for an additional daylight hour on the night of Halloween for trick -or - treating.
This May, we sought to end this ancient practice. It would have allowed Texans to vote whether to stay on standard time year-round or daylight saving time year-round. Our proposal passed the House (众议院)133-9. Sadly, once the bill reached the Senate (参议院),it was never referred to a committee. The proposal died in the Senate without even a word spoken about it on the floor.
I'm moving forward with plans to file the legislation (立法) again in 2021. I urge you to contact your state legislators to move this legislation forward so that this weekend will be one of the last times we have to "fall back."
