Massachusetts wants to get ahead of the rest of the East Coast, by switching time zones.
A committee in the New England state wants to end Daylight Saving Time and move into the Atlantic Time Zone, which is an hour ahead of Eastern Standard Time. According to International Business Times, the committee is set to vote on Nov. 1, four days before Daylight Saving Time ends this year, to hopefully get lawmakers on their side.
After Daylight Saving Time ends on Sunday, places in northern New England see the sunset before 4 o’clock hits — moving to Atlantic Time would give them an extra hour of light in the evening.
Maine is anxious for Massachusetts to bite the bullet. The northernmost state on the East Coast passed a bill through the state legislature earlier this year but the state Senate said the state can only move to Atlantic Time and forgo Daylight Saving if neighboring Massachusetts and New Hampshire agree. New Hampshire also isn’t far behind, the state had a bill in a Senate Committee in May.
Other places that lie in the Atlantic Time Zone include New Brunswick, Nova Scotia, and parts of Quebec in Canada, many tropical islands like the Dominican Republic, Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands, and Brazil and Chile in South America. Many of these countries and islands already do not observe Daylight Saving Time.
Daylight Saving Time (which is singular) is the period in the summer when we lose an hour in March/April and gain it back in October/November. Ending it would mean less groggy confusion in the spring when we lose the hour, and more evening daylight in the fall — many states consider the earlier darkness a nuisance. Arizona, Hawaii, Puerto Rico, the Virgin Islands, and American Samoa already do not observe Daylight Saving.
The time jump, which doesn’t have anything to do with farming, is quickly losing what little popularity it had. Finland also recently submitted a petition signed by 70,000 Finns who want to end Daylight Saving. The only problem is the entire European Union would have to follow suit. Alaska, California, Oregon and Montana are also on the list of states who want to make Daylight Saving a thing of the past.
Comments are closed.