Damn Stupid Thought
Melting Clocks by Salvadore Dali
On July 14, the US House of Representatives passed something called The Sunshine Protection Act by a vote of 308-117. The Act would make Daylight Saving Time (DST) permanent and free us all from the backbreaking burden of changing our clocks – Spring ahead, Fall back – twice a year.
It would also keep us in the dark every morning – until about 9:30 a.m. in the northern Midwest and around 11:15 a.m. in Alaska – and delay sunset every night – to roughly 5:30 in Colorado and 6:35 in Florida on December 1.
Kiss your circadian rhythm good-bye and kiss your kids every dark morning before they traipse off to school and are run over by some driver who can’t see in the dark.
Proponents of this absurdity claim that despite the drawbacks – and there are many others – making DST permanent would give people lots of daylight time to do whatever they do every evening when the sun does not set until 9 p.m. in some places.
They say that people will go shopping more, eat out more and pay more golf course greens fees if they have more daylight each day.
Of course they would.
They also claim that permanent DST would save every single household lots and lots of energy so that cash formerly spent on electricity bills might be instead spent shopping, eating out and paying more greens fees.
Really?
Just so you know this is not the first time the US government wanted to make DST permanent. DST was made permanent during World War I in order to save energy. Less coal, you know.
It did not.
Brain trust lawmakers tried the tactic again during World War II claiming it would save energy. Less coal, right?
It did not.
Most recently, the US government decided that it would battle the oil crisis of 1974 by making DST permanent that January. The notion was to save energy. Guess what? It did not.
The notion was canned in October of that year.
So, have I personal feelings about all this?
You betcha I do.
First, folks who study the science of sleep for a living say that Standard Time is more in line with human beings’ circadian rhythm. That’s pretty basic and I could not agree more.
I get downright crabby missing that hour of sleep when DST kicks in.
Secondly, there is something to be said for those cozy fall and winter nights when the world is dark and soft light – maybe candlelight – warms the whole house.
In fact, the absence of candlelight dinners, soft music and long winter nights with nothing to do but the horizontal mambo might actually affect the American population trajectory in a negative way.
What do you think?
Finally, maybe an earlier nightfall would encourage families to spend more time at home - together - than more daylight would? Of course, people would have to get their heads out of their cell phones first.
But I digress.
The Sunshine Protection Act is now under consideration in the Senate where, I’m told, opposition to it is stiff.
I hope so, partly because proponents of the measure say that making DST permanent will make for a “Brighter America.”
Really?
Gee, I hate to break this to you but cultivating a brighter American has nothing whatsoever to do with any of this.
I’m just sayin’.