Daniel Vockins and Maddy Carroll get ready to present 9,000 letters written by Lighter Later supporters to their MPs at the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills
Daniel Vockins from the 10:10 Lighter Later campaign explains how a simple change of the clocks can have a host of benefits, including reducing emissions.
Everybody loves the sunshine. But every year we set our clocks so that we get less of it in our lives, sleeping through the sunlit mornings while we use expensive, polluting electric lights to keep out the dark nights. Lighter Later is a campaign to brighten our days by changing the clocks so we are awake when the sun is out.
The idea is simple: we shift the clocks forward by one hour throughout the entire year. We would still go forward in spring and back in autumn, but we would have moved an hour of daylight from the morning to the evening, when more of us are awake to enjoy it.
According to research from Cambridge University, the reduced need for artificial lighting would save about half a million tonnes of carbon each year. It also shows that cutting emissions can also make our lives better in the short term - other benefits include 80 road deaths avoided each year, 80,000 new jobs in leisure and tourism and a boost to after-school sport (all references here).
This Friday, the Daylight Saving Bill goes to parliament, giving MPs the chance to change time. However because the vote is on a Friday (when most MPs focus on constituency business), we need to work incredibly hard to persuade the requisite 102 MPs to turn up and vote in favour. The only way to do this is through strong public pressure. So, how can you help your MP see the light? Two ways:
- Call them using our (rather clever) MP phone tool
- Write to them using our email tool
Whether you choose to call or write, it only takes a couple of minutes and the tool will walk you through the process with bespoke tips based on your MP's current position on the issue.
The chances of securing lighter evenings are the best they've been for decades - let's make it happen!
