Lighter Later Campaign

Freefaller

Freefaller

Freefaller

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I heard this on the news driving into work this morning.

The crux of it is, they are wanting to keep GMT+1 but then instead of dropping back an hour to GMT, leave it throughout the winter and go to GMT+2 in the summer next year. It basically means it stays lighter in the evenings in the winter.

They list a few benefits being (http://www.lighterlater.org/benefits.html):

  • Cut at least 447,000 tonnes of CO2 pollution – equivalent to more than 50,000 cars driving all the way around the world – each year [1]
  • 2 Save 100 lives each year and prevent hundreds of serious injuries by making the roads safer [2]
  • 3 Lower our electricity bills by maximising the available daylight and reducing peak power demand [3]
  • 4 Create 60,000–80,000 new jobs in leisure and tourism, bringing an extra £2.5–3.5 billion into the economy each year [4]
  • 5 Reduce crime and the fear of crime [5]
  • 6 Help make people healthier and tackle obesity by giving people more time to exercise and play sport outside in the evening [6]
  • 7 Save the NHS around £138 million a year through reducing road casualties [7]
  • 8 Improve quality of life for older people [8]
  • 9 Make the nation happier – including reducing the effects of Seasonal Affective Disorder [9]
  • 10 Demonstrate that dealing with climate change can be good for the economy, good for people and good for society as a whole


Their website is here: http://www.lighterlater.org/

There's an article here too: http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/10362295.stm


Just curious as to what people think? I think it means that for some places in Scotland they wouldn't get any light until about 9am in some parts.

Apparently they already trialed this after the war and another time in the past,. Do you believe the benefits? I believe the part about leisure and tourism, as if it stays light later people are more likely to be out and about later, and certainly it could reduce a lot of the SAD incidences we seem to get in this country...

I think it might be quite sensible, but then again I hate winter gloom so maybe a it biased!
 
:p

Well it's still likely to be dark and cold, but just give us a bit more useable daylight. The point is to maximise the amount of daylight available to people. Rather than leave work and be at work in the dark, leave work in the dark (though clearly some people will still be in that predicament).

I'm not usually into wishy washy campaigns, and I don't give a hoot about CO2 stuff, but this did seem vaguely interesting.

Agreed, if the weather is pants it won't help, but then again I remember some winters where some days you had to drive with your lights on during the day it was so dark and gloomy!
 
Sort the thread title out you n00b!


I personally thought it was a good idea until I realised people in Scotland wouldn't get any light until 09:00 am.

I now think it's a fantastic idea.
 
Jph said:
Thats quite a list of benefits, would be interesting to have a similar list of the downsides of such a change.
Click to expand...

Agreed - can't seem to find anything at the moment. However they have had positive stats (according to the radio interview) when it happened last time.

G|mp said:
Sort the thread title out you n00b!


I personally thought it was a good idea until I realised people in Scotland wouldn't get any light until 09:00 am.

I now think it's a fantastic idea.
Click to expand...

:D
 
I've always thought this was a good idea. When the clocks change, the majority of people are either asleep or having breakfast during those early hours in the morning.

I hate the fact that when they do change it means it's dark before I leave work.
 
On another note, if Scottish people aren't happy about it not getting light until 9am, why not leave them changing the clocks and have a time zone at the border?
 
I think its a good idea from the points the OP put across.

The only downside is the scotish not liking it...oh well :p
 
Personally this is something I'd love, ok there are those benefits as listed, but the most important one is surely...during the summer, it would stay light until about 10pm,so much more time in beer gardens in the nice sun before it starts to get cold and the girls want to go indoors!!!

Surely reason enough to make this happen by itself??? ;)

Valve
 
I don't understand how it's going to make the roads safer, surely the morning commute is likely to be in the dark now? -> more accidents, more NHS ££
 
Nick1881 said:
Surely it would be darker in the morning meaning most of those benefits are instantly cancelled out?
Click to expand...

That's what I thought... Hence why I was curious to hear why they feel it would be better... Maybe there are more people travelling in the evening than in the morning?
 
I'd rather have lighter mornings than evenings tbh


lol and I love how they list benefits such as 'allowing people more time to exercise cutting obesity' - because, yes, lighter evenings is certainly going to solve that problem when nothing else has worked thus far.

and also just simply, 'make the nation happier'. - well that reason right there won me over, I mean, all the polls and votes that went around, I assume they've been counted and......oh wait, they're just BSing
 
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