Chaos in Lebanon over what time it is: What is the underlying idea of Daylight Saving Time?

What happened in Lebanon?

Lebanon usually sets its clocks forward an hour on the last Sunday in March. However, its caretaker Prime Minister Najib Mikati Thursday said this year, the clocks would be reset on April 21.

While no reason was given, according to AP, a leaked video shows Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri urging Mikati to postpone DST to allow Muslims to break their Ramzan fast an hour earlier. The confusion was created as some institutions, including Christian churches, reset their clocks despite Mikati’s decision. Thus, airlines, cellphone operators, schools, workplaces, etc., are no longer following the same time.

What happened in Greenland?

Greenland reset its clocks this weekend, but will leave them undisturbed when daylight saving time ends in autumn. According to AP, officials of Greenland — a Danish semi-independent territory in the Arctic — said another hour of daylight in the afternoons would give them more time to do business with Europe and farther afield.

Why was this practice adopted?

According to Time and Date, on July 1, 1908, “the residents of Port Arthur, Ontario—today’s Thunder Bay—turned their clocks forward by one hour to start the world’s first DST period. Other locations in Canada soon followed suit.” The idea caught on globally after Germany and Austria introduced DST on April 30, 1916, to minimise the use of artificial lighting and save fuel during World War I.

Today, many argue that with most appliances consuming energy running at all hours of the day, DST has lost relevance. Some studies have also shown that disruption of the body clock due to the DST has adverse health effects.