Daylight Saving Time will be ending over the weekend, giving way to earlier sunrises and earlier sunsets.

On Sunday at 2:00 a.m., clocks will “fall back” to 1:00 a.m. The time shift will give bar-goers an extra hour of partying, will give others an extra hour of sleep, and will force Metro to stay open an extra hour.

Daylight Saving Time was originally created in order to save energy and to reduce the number of daylight hours people wasted by sleeping through in the summer. While popular with folks who work from 9-5 and who don’t like leaving work at dusk (the sun will set at 5:02 p.m. on Monday, and days will continue getting shorter until the winter solstice on Dec. 22), farmers, who have to wake up especially early during the summer growing season, typically oppose Daylight Saving Time.

This year, citing the stress and depression that occurs for some when when it gets darker earlier, Russia decided to ignore agricultural concerns and stay permanently in Daylight Saving Time (or “summertime,” as the British call it).

Should the U.S. consider doing the same?


Flickr pool by Mnemosyne2009