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A Better Alternative to Daylight Saving Time by Joe Goodson Exclusive to STR February 27, 2007
Ever
since childhood, I’ve always been fascinated with astronomy, the solar
system, the earth, and the seasons.
One of my favorite books as a young child was Sunshine
Makes the Seasons, and when playing with a toy town set, I often
times would shine a flashlight on the town (pretending it to be the sun)
and say, “Hey . . . it’s summer in this town!
Here’s where the sun rises -- in the northeast -- and here’s
the long, high path it takes across the sky!” I
also looked forward to the spring time change, since I could play
outside longer. And today, I
still enjoy it. But just
because a person is fond of something doesn’t mean that there can’t
be a better alternative. Historically,
Standard Time was officially established worldwide in 1884 as a way of
synchronizing everyone’s clocks within 15 degrees of longitude (i.e.,
denominating the time zones). The
sun would reach its highest point each day at or around But
it was only 30 years later (during World War I) when governments began
messing with this system. To
save energy during the two World Wars, the Today,
As
for me, I absolutely am not a morning person, and absolutely
loathe having to be someplace before sunrise.
I also like walking outdoors in the evenings, especially if
it’s still light out. So
naturally, I’m quite satisfied with the current system, and experience
no jet lag when changing the clocks.
At times in the past, I also thought it would be fun to “summer
forward” an additional hour from mid-spring though late summer,
so the sun would stay up until almost But
if somebody like me -- who enjoys the present timing system -- can say,
“Wait a minute,”…or a second…or an hour…“I’ve got a better
idea than changing our clocks, which would give people like me all the
extra daylight hours we’ll need,” then you certainly should pay
attention. The
concept is simply this: let’s
stay on Standard Time all year round, while a slight majority of us
arise, work, play, and conk out an hour or two earlier each day
as the days grow longer -- all without touching the time.
Fair enough? It gets
even more superior when you examine the details. (For
semantic purposes, throughout the remainder of this article when
referring to “springing forward,” “summering forward,”
“falling back,” and “wintering back,” I’m talking about
schedule alterations, and not time changes.
Who’s to say that one must manipulate his clock in order to
spring forward?) Under
the microscope, daylight savings time is really nothing more than a
plethora of politicians prattling from their pedestals with some typical
garden-variety, one-size-fits-all decree about exactly when
almost every person in the country should spring forward and fall back.
Forget about their local sunrise times.
Pay no attention to their personal preferences or to the nature
of their businesses. Just
make everyone goose-step groove to the shuddering sound of the
mechanical clock as we tormentingly twist its arms twice a year to trick
ourselves into thinking that it’s an hour later than it really is. Obviously,
the government has done yet another excellent job of what rulers do
best: convincing the
populace that it cannot survive without their programs, projects, and
guidance. “How could I
retire without Social Security?” “How
could I become educated without regime-owned-and-operated schooling?”
And finally…“How could I enjoy more sunlit hours after work
in the spring and summer without daylight savings time?” I
will address the latter question. As
the days lengthen throughout the winter and spring, people and
businesses could examine their local sunrise times, their own
preferences, and the nature of their enterprises, and could determine for
themselves if and when to spring forward and/or summer forward with
their own daily schedules. For
example, those who work from 8-5 could also work 7-4 and 6-3 at
different times of the year to take advantage of the earlier dawns and
extra daylight hours. Various
entertainment events, and even those pesky TV stations, could run their
programming earlier as the days get longer. Furthermore,
a larger percentage of the people and businesses in the eastern sections
of the time zones -- such as For
instance, Obviously,
the majority of New Yorkers who wished to shift their schedules would
probably do so about a month before most Indianapolites. On
the autumn side of the equation, it’s the opposite.
The sun first rises after 6 AM Standard Time in So
in late summer and fall, more Indianapolites would switch their way back
toward the original 8-5 arrangement at earlier dates than many New
Yorkers would, to preserve their morning sunlight on their commutes. Working
from 6-3 (instead of 8-5) during the majority of the spring and summer
without daylight savings time may seem a little crazy, but wait until
you view the following table! (I
personally compiled it from playing around on the Old
Farmer’s Almanac’s rise/set page.)
It’s a list of the local sunrise and sunset times of various
cities on the summer solstice -- June 21 -- on Standard Time. City
Boston
4:07 AM
7:25 PM
New York City
Indianapolis
Atlanta
5:27 AM
7:52 PM
Chicago
Kansas City
Oklahoma City
Amarillo
Houston
Denver
4:32 AM
7:32 PM
Phoenix
Seattle
4:11 AM
8:11 PM
San Francisco
4:48 AM
7:35 PM
Los Angeles
(Keep
in mind that dawn arrives approximately 30 to 45 minutes before sunrise,
while twilight takes place about that long after sunset.) So
during the late spring and early summer on a 6-3 work shift, the sun
would be well above the horizon on the morning commute.
You also would receive about five or more hours of daylight after
finishing the workday, which is an hour more than an 8-5 shift on
DST. Of
course, eating breakfast, lunch and dinner at 4 AM, 10 AM, and 4 PM
might seem a bit awkward, but not after reaping the huge benefits of
extra daylight with this schedule! Note
that in the eastern sections of the time zones at that time of year, it
already would be light outside at 4 AM. Internally,
our bodies pay very little attention to man-made clocks, but a great
deal to daylight and darkness. Being
“dark and early” sounds extremely gruesome, gloomy, unnatural, and
unhealthy, while “bright and early” sounds warm, fluffy, fine, and
dandy. For
those of you who work daytime careers, who absolutely are not
morning people (as I’m certainly not), which would you prefer:
appearing at your job at By
now you might be asking, “But what about all those folks who don’t
want to change their schedules throughout the year, such as this
fine gentleman?” No
problem. They could find an
employer that doesn’t require them to do so -- as I’m quite sure
there’d be plenty of them. Some
daytime employers would allow flexible hours, some would mandate
schedule changes, and others would forbid it.
And as for emergency services personnel, and those who work
evening and night shifts . . . they rarely, if ever, would seasonally
tamper with their work hours. In
fact, most of them probably already dislike I
would guess that in this free-market alternative to daylight savings
time, about 40% of the population would never change their daily
schedules, 30% would choose to spring forward at some time, but not
summer forward (including most schools and TV stations), and the
remaining 30% of the populace would both spring and summer forward.
And no matter what they choose to do, they all would have one
thing in common, as long as they’re in the same time zone:
their clocks would all be showing the same time, with the
sun peaking at or around Pretty
neat, huh? It
would make the largest number of people happy, and no one would fear
somebody imposing his personal “light-headed” time preferences on
everyone else through the force of the regime.
Businesses, families, and individuals could put forth the best
use of their sunlit and nocturnal periods throughout the year in ways
that appeal to them the most. The
more I think about it, the sillier the notion becomes that we must
change our clocks in order to enjoy more daylight hours after the end of
our daytime work shifts. It’s
time to get the government politicos out of the clock-management
business, and out of our daily and nightly lives altogether.
They’ve ticked and tocked their cuckoo talk long enough.
Don’t you think so? As
for me, my concluding thought is…
Hickory
Dickory Dock. The
rulers ran up the clock. The
clock struck eight Or
nine,…no, wait! Hickory Dickory Dock Joe Goodson is currently enjoying his career as a repair technician in Oklahoma City. He also likes dance-pop music, nightclubs, cruising, gold bullion, organic foods, and natural health.
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With
the new “spring forward” time change happening three weeks earlier
this year (on Sunday, March 11), it certainly will be an interesting
“turn” of an event.
