For the last time, Russia switched over to “summer time”. Clocks throughout the country went ahead one hour at 02.00 local time. On 8 February, President Dmitri Medvedev announced a decision to cancel the autumn transition to “winter” time later this year. Dmitri Anatolyevich noted that when the time switches back and forth, it violates the natural biorhythms of people and animals, it has a negative effect on health, and it isn’t economically justified. The first time that seasonal time variations were used was in the UK in 1908. Then, other countries followed suit. The idea of saving energy by moving the clock ahead originated with the famous American statesman Benjamin Franklin, one of the authors of the US Declaration of Independence. In 2010, more than 100 countries had a variation between “winter” and “summer” time. In equatorial areas, such transitions were never implemented, for the length of the day is more uniform there throughout the year. For various reasons, Japan, China, South Korea, Georgia, and some Central Asian CIS republics opt-out of seasonal time variations, as well. Economists have long argued that the time switch brings economic benefits. However, in response, scientists stated that negative health effects neutralised all the positive effects. In Scandinavia, after the time change in Sweden, researchers found an increased number of fatal accidents. In Russia, for several years there’s been a discussion of abolishing the time change, but President Medvedev’s decision was still sensational. If, now, it’s almost imperceptible, in the winter, those who go to Europe will feel the difference. There, despite controversy, such a reform hasn’t yet been adopted, so, every six months, the difference between Russian cities and European capitals will change by one hour.
27 March 2011
Voice of Russia World Service
http://rus.ruvr.ru/2011/03/27/48029797.htmlhttp://rus.ruvr.ru/2011/03/27/48029797.html
