This coming Saturday night is the end of Daylight Saving Time for this year in North America. I’m excited to turn the clocks back one hour because it means the sunrise will be earlier in the day. As someone who gets up at 5am or earlier every day and lives in a northern latitude, I welcome the change as I’ll see the sun an hour earlier. And as the dad of two little kids I welcome the time change in autumn because it means there’s a chance my kids will sleep in and I’ll get some extra time to drink my coffee in silence on Sunday morning.
National Geographic has two videos titled Daylight Saving Time 101. The first one, published in 2015, is a bit more upbeat than the second one that was published in 2019. Both versions are embedded below.
The Telegraph has a 90 second explanation of Daylight Saving Time. The video doesn’t have any narration so it can be watched without sound.
CGP Grey’s video explanation of Daylight Saving Time is still a good one even if it isn’t as succinct as the videos above.
Has someone told you that Daylight Saving Time was ended by Congress? If so, I’m sorry to tell you that only the Senate has moved to enact law to end Daylight Saving Time. The bill hasn’t reached the House and is still a long way from becoming an enacted law. WXYZ-TV in Detroit has a good explanation of the process and of the potential impact of the end of DST in northern cities like Detroit. Watch the video here or as embedded below.
TED-Ed has two lessons that aren’t specifically about Daylight Saving Time but are related to the topic. First, The History of Keeping Time explains sundials, hourglasses, and the development of timezones. Second, How Did Trains Standardize Time in the United States? explains the role of railroads in the development of the timezones used in the United States (and most of Canada) today.
