Sunday March 10, 224 | LANGFORD, BC
by Mary P Brooke | Island Social Trends
Daylight Saving Time has happened again in 2024. This morning Sunday March 10 at 2 am clocks were turned forward by one hour.
The idea is to extend after-work hours for outdoor recreation and evening activities; this is driven by primarily urban lifestyles. There is thought to be an economic benefit in that, but the jury is out as to impacts on people’s health and well-being.
Experts who specialize in human circadian rhythms have been saying this past week that people are better off sticking to the natural rhythm of the planet. Our brains use daylight as a clue to wake up in the morning and darkness as a clue to slow down and rest at night.
‘Fall back’ will take place on Sunday morning November 3, 2024 at 2 am (clocks will be turned back one hour).
BC might spring forward permanently:
In 2019, BC passed legislation to change from back-and-forth Daylight Savings Time (forward one hour in spring, and back one hour in late autumn) to permanent adherence to Daylight Savings Time. This was in response at the time to public pressure that emphasized how people seem to have more accidents and health issues when the time is artificially changed.
However, whether BC should stick to one-hour-forward (Daylight Savings Time) or natural time (Standard Time) was debated politically and not so much in terms of natural human rhythms.
BC will change its time system (currently Pacific Daylight Time and Pacific Standard Time) only if states to the south of us (Washington, Oregon and California) take the lead and change theirs first.
Former Premier John Horgan was supportive of a Cascadian time zone, with an eye to economic impacts of the immediately adjacent US states. At a Victoria Chamber of Commerce luncheon in February 2019, Horgan identified that the economy of BC plus those three US states combined represent one-fifth of the world’s economy.
Eby’s government has been pretty much silent on the issue of time zone change.
Reminder to check safety devices:
The local fire department in Langford today reminded residents to adjust clocks (though most clocks are automated now on anything that is computerized), inspect fire extinguishers, and replace the backup battery in smoke alarms and carbon monoxide detectors.
===== RELATED:
- Daylight Savings Time in BC for another year (March 12, 2023)
- Daylight Savings Time in 2022 starts Sunday March 13 (March 12, 2022)
- Daylight Savings Time in 2021 starts Sunday March 14 (March 11, 2021)
- Daylight Savings Time 2020 begins March 8 (March 7, 2020)
- Horgan spices social initiatives with economic angles (PDF / March 1, 2019)