Time Can Be Manipulated. Daylight Cannot…
Daylight savings is still dumb. I do need to qualify this statement as my own and it may not reflect the opinion of Ski Haus, its owner, or any of my coworkers, etc. etc.
First off there is no saving daylight. Daylight savings does not add light to our day. By “springing forward” we lose an hour of sleep and wake up in the dark. Where is the daylight savings in losing an hour?
There will be just as much daylight March 7th as there was March 8th (except for the small addition the natural rotation of the earth provides). The clock will say it is lighter later but this is contrived and meaningless.
I think of savings as something that I can use at my discretion. Like a piece of chocolate that I’ve set aside to eat later. I’ve saved it. I can savor it anytime. Or even money in a savings account. I can use it anytime. It has been saved. There is no such luck with daylight savings. Time rolls on just as it always has and always will. Daylight can not be saved in a jar to be used later like if you are lost in the forest, it’s getting dark, and say to yourself “boy, I sure could use some more daylight right about now.” Good luck with that savings…
Is there a good reason to change the clocks to stay lighter later? One Ski Haus staff member said, “It’s nice to be able to ride your bike home from the bar in the light.” So this person has saved all that daylight in the bar – inside. His argument did not sway my disdain for daylight savings. Others say they are not morning people and love the light later in the day. I believe there is an equal number of people who love the morning light. What kind of democracy is this anyway?
An old argument for daylight savings is that farmer’s like it. Well today’s mechanized farms have put an end to that. Super sized tractors can light up a field as if it is high noon! Farmers are generally up before sunrise and not done with their day until well after the sun has set. There are only 24 hours in a day so they are getting after it no matter what the clock says. From what I’ve been able to decipher from the web, farmer’s never have been fans of daylight savings in the first place.
Another thought is daylights savings prevents accidents by having more light later in the day. The opposite has been proven true. More car accidents and work place injuries occur the few days after daylight savings has kicked in because of the loss of sleep and a sudden change in morning light or the lack thereof.
Yet another argument is that daylight savings saves energy. Lights don’t have to come on as early in the evening. (They only have to come on earlier in the morning). This just doesn’t make sense. And with the world economy, billions of computers, office lights in metropolitan areas staying on all night (to save energy), video games, and on and on, I’d say the world is consuming far more energy today than any “daylight-energy-savings” can claim as a benefit.
I once heard it was too expensive to stop doing daylight savings. That didn’t stop the 2007 Congress from adding three weeks in the Spring and an additional week in the Fall. So much for computers already being programmed and it is too expensive to stop. We’ll just add a month to it and make everyone reprogram those computers to continue daylight savings anyway. At this point we are on standard time for essentially 4 months out of the 12. Good grief. If changing the time is so beneficial to have it in place for 8 months why change it all?
Ok. In my typical fashion I’ve ranted on too long. My problem is not daylight savings per se. I can live with daylight savings or standard time just fine. For the record I prefer Standard Time. Anyone notice how the mornings are brighter and there is more light in the evening right now before we change the clocks to Daylight Savings? I just don’t understand changing the clocks at all. It’s time to leave them one way or the other. I think it is time to quit messing around with our circadian rhythms and let the natural beat of our hearts and the glide of the Earth guide us through the seasons.
Personally, I will not be observing daylight savings this year. So when I leave work an hour before everybody else you’ll know why…
P.S. Only the government can cut off the top of a blanket, sew it on to the bottom, and believe it has made a longer blanket. Nuff said.