The U.S. changed the time 3 weeks early, Did the rest of the planet ?

Question

I understand that one of our politicians pushed a law through to move the normal time change ahead 3 weeks sooner. This was done in order to save energy I hear. Being that this is something the U.S. did, has everyone on the planet also changed its time? For that matter do other countries even do this back and forth time change. I know I wish they would just leave it alone. Seems like a shock to my system when its done.

Answer 1

some countries do but most don't. also, the state of arizona does not practice daylight savings time.

Answer 2

I am not certain if most countries did the changes simultaneously with the U.S., but most European nations, Canada, and Mexico have agreed on the extended daylight savings plan. China and Japan do not observe it. Since daylight is consistent in the middle latitudes, most of the middle parts of the world do not observe it either.

Since the change is a shock to your system, I have written to all the nations involved to demand they leave our clocks alone. Unfortunately, I have been politely ignored. I suggest you adjust to the lengthier amount of sunlight and enjoy it.

Insofar as saving energy, I don't know if anyone has done a quantification. It generally makes sense though, with evening lighting coming on later, when people have left work and are home taking it easy. Those evening strolls are not in the dark either.

Here is a good source that explains the whole concept.

Answer 3

Nope Europe used to change a week ahead of you. Now we're only going to be 5 hours ahead for 2 weeks.
I wish the world could change at the same time, (like in fall) it would be so convenient.

Answer 4

Time is tracked globally by time zones, relative to Greenwich Mean Time (also known as UTC time).

Each country then sets an offset, one or more time zones, that skews the clocks based on approximate longitude.

In the US, we futher skew the time for Dayling Savings Time, in addition to time zone. But not all states use DST -- only most.

In other words, nobody changed the actual time. We just changed what our clocks read.

Answer 5

Countries have the right to change their time as they see fit. In the US, the states of Arizona and Hawaii do not change their clocks with the US government - they just change time zones.

It's not a nature issue.

Answer 6

I belive eastern U.S is the only one's who use day light savings time...

Answer 7

Not all countries do DST...

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Daylight_saving_time

Answer 8

yup we do in the uk