European poll on daylight saving

Gawan

Ambassador
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FOTCM Member
Currently is a poll running where European citizens can vote to cancel or to save the yearly change of summertime / wintertime (daylight saving). The server broke in it's first days down and is still difficult to access, but with some patience it can be reached. The poll is open till 16th of August.

Considering that the time change was based on one or another myth in history and thinking about elderly people who have a bigger problem with this time change, it maybe is a good chance for a change. Still it is open if in the end it will be really cancelled or not.

Following a number of requests from citizens, from the European Parliament, and from certain EU Member States, the Commission has decided to investigate the functioning of the current EU summertime arrangements and to assess whether or not they should be changed.

In this context, the Commission is interested in gathering the views of European citizens, stakeholders and Member States on the current EU summertime arrangements and on any potential change to those arrangements.

More background information on the summertime arrangements can be found on the consultation webpage.

Here it goes to the poll:

https://ec.europa.eu/eusurvey/runner/2018-summertime-arrangements?surveylanguage=EN
 
I filled out the questionnaire too. I HATE DST. So does everybody I know.
 
Russia will be on permanent summer time from Sunday

Cows will be calmer, doctors happier and crooks less active.

That's the thinking as Russia puts forward its clocks for the last time this weekend.
Leading the way in an incipient global trend that rejects the notion of changing the clocks in spring and autumn, the Russian authorities believe the move will reduce human – and animal – misery.

It means Russia, which stretches across nine time zones from Kaliningrad in Europe to the Kamchatka peninsula in the Pacific, will stay permanently on summer time from this Sunday, gaining extra daylight in the afternoons during its seemingly interminable winter.

The president, Dmitry Medvedev, said Russians were fed up with the time changes because they caused "stress and illnesses" and "upset the human biorhythm".

Read on at

The Guardian: Clocks go forward last time..
 
Some get up early some late according to the rise of the Sun. The EU covers 30 degrees from East to West. The reason is that with 360 degrees for a circle, it takes one hour to revolve 15 degrees, so 30 degrees makes two hours.
On Central European Time - Wikipedia one can see what this means when plotted on a map. In the pictures below, which shows Legal time vs local mean time, the colours have the following meaning:
Blue: 1 h ± 30 m behind
Grey: 0 h ± 30 m
Very light red brown: 1 h ± 30 m ahead
Light red brown: 2 h ± 30 m ahead
Red brown: 3 h ± 30 m ahead

Below is what it looks like during European winter time

375px-Tzdiff-Europe-winter.png

Below is European DST
375px-Tzdiff-Europe-summer.png

One can read about how Spain came to be so much ahead:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Time said:
Daylight saving time
Daylight saving time (DST) was first introduced in 1918,[3] the year in which World War I ended. It was then introduced and abolished several times. It was not applied in 1920–1923, 1925, 1930 nor during the Second Spanish Republic period in 1931–1936. [...]

In 1996, daylight saving time was harmonised throughout the European Union by Directive 2000/84/EC, which moved the end of DST to the last Sunday in October.
[...]
In 1940, Francisco Franco changed the time zone [4] by changing 16 March 1940 23:00 Greenwich Mean Time to 17 March 1940 00:00 Central European Time during World War II. This was made permanent in 1942 in order to be in line with German occupied Europe.[5] Several western European countries, including France, Belgium, and the Netherlands stayed on German time after the war in addition to Spain.[6]
With regard to the part highlighted, I noticed they asked in the questionnaire if the changing of time should be abolished for the whole of the EU. Is this a flexible position considering the EU "one time zone fits all" covers 30 degrees or the equivalent of two hours?
 
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I also don't know anyone who likes DST and I certainly hate it as well. In the book "Why We Sleep", there is a part in which the author discusses the disastrous consequences this practise has brought on millions of people, by messing with their wake and sleep cycles during critical moments and thus promoting all sorts of illnesses and mental instabilities. Thus it also makes no sense whatsoever economically in my book. Signed it as well!
 
Signed, I also do not know anyone who likes it, it seems that even empty-head EU politicians have enough DST
 
Since I can't drive in the dark, I like Daylight Savings Time. But I live in the US so it doesn't matter, I guess.
 
Well, I voted.

The day in summers here is INSANELY long. But mostly, I just hate the time changes. It just screws up everybody's sleep patterns twice a year for no real actual benefit that I can see.
 
Since I can't drive in the dark, I like Daylight Savings Time. But I live in the US so it doesn't matter, I guess.

Yes, I guess DST can be helpful for some people during certain periods of the year. But I would at least like to switch to the present US setting which has a little more summer time than Europe.
 
Well, I voted.

The day in summers here is INSANELY long. But mostly, I just hate the time changes. It just screws up everybody's sleep patterns twice a year for no real actual benefit that I can see.

I also voted. I hate when there are the time changes especially in March. At least 2 weeks it screws up my sleeping pattern and therefore I am more easily out of balance. I was against DST when they started it in 1980 in Germany - but the people were not asked anyway. They told us it was introduced because of energy savings but I I do not see there are any benefits. Interestingly daylight saving times were quite popular around the world wars and between them (maybe there are some benefits for 4D-STS?).
 
I also voted. I adjust hate DST. I need at least a week every spring and autumn to adapt to those time changes. It is just useless.
 
Vote done, against DST.
This European poll would need to be widely spread, in order to change the current situation...
Thanks Gawan for sharing it
 
Russia will be on permanent summer time from Sunday

Cows will be calmer, doctors happier and crooks less active.

That's the thinking as Russia puts forward its clocks for the last time this weekend.
[...]
The president, Dmitry Medvedev, said Russians were fed up with the time changes because they caused "stress and illnesses" and "upset the human biorhythm".
[...]

The above is essentially what DST is doing to animals, people and society and it is good that the russians realized this as far back as 2011, which is now also scientifically understood to be more then just correct and brought up recently in "Why We Sleep".

It messes Millions of peoples sleeping patterns and biorhythms up, two times a year, with grave consequences for all concerned and most especially society at large.
 
When I filled it out I made sure to include a reference to "Why We Sleep" for evidence and mentioned the staggering financial/economic costs this practise produces. Here is another website you can refer to, about some of the many negative consequences of this practise while signing it.

Here is what I wrote:

Messing with sleep patterns and human biorhythms with this time switching practise has dire consequences in every field of live, including economy and human health and society at large. See the book "Why We Sleep: The New Science of Sleep and Dreams" by Matthew Walker PhD for the overwhelming evidence for this bad practise. The financial loss caused for economies by this practise is also staggering.
 
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