diff --git a/README.md b/README.md
index 9b182cc..ff80bc4 100644
--- a/README.md
+++ b/README.md
@@ -17,6 +17,9 @@ purpose of building PHP composer packages.  It provides several key features:
 * Composer bin directories are automatically included in `PATH`.  Both a
   relative `vendor/bin` directory, and the global `$COMPOSER_HOME/vendor/bin`
   directory are included in the `PATH`.
+* Timezone set to `UTC` by default to remove the warnings with PHP's date and
+  time functions.  This can be overridden by updating
+  `/etc/php/conf.d/timezone.ini`.
 
 ## Usage
 This library is useful with simple `composer.json`'s from the command line.
diff --git a/timezone.ini b/timezone.ini
index 2dfbefd..aa104f1 100644
--- a/timezone.ini
+++ b/timezone.ini
@@ -1,2 +1,2 @@
 [Date]
-date.timezone = America/New_York
+date.timezone = UTC