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Monday, November 03, 2014

The perversion of Daylight Savings Time

Is it just me, or has anyone else noticed that we spend more days of the year on Daylight Savings Time than on Standard Time? Here are the basics:

There are 12 months in a year.
Daylight Savings Time runs from March 9th to November 2nd this year.
Within that span of days, there are 238 days.
238 days is equal to 7 months and 24 days.

We spend nearly 8 months on Daylight savings time, which means that for a little over 4 months out of the year, we're on Standard Time. For at least since the 1970s up to 2006, daylight savings time has run for 6 months already.

Here in the state of Utah, at least two legislators have taken up the charge to eliminate it, modify it or make it permanent rather than fiddling with the clocks twice a year. They have solicited feedback on the idea and have received more than 18,000 comments. The majority of the people who responded prefer to eliminate DST. I'm in agreement with them.

Others wanted to make DST permanent all year round. I guess I can see the reason for doing that since we're on DST more than not. I think I would prefer to eliminate it altogether since it's already confusing as it is.

The most vocal supporters of DST? Business. Oh, yes. Some businesses around Utah say that they love it, that they'll lose millions without it, or that they would prefer to keep it simply to be like everyone else. Utah is a Right-To-Work state, which is another way of saying that the government of Utah prefers to look the other way when it comes to exploitation of natural resources and the rights of humans that are not business owners. So it would make sense that business owners would speak up and expect to be heard.

Utah isn't the only state considering the change. Colorado, Montana, Idaho, and Wyoming are also looking into dropping DST. Hopefully, the idea will gain some momentum and we can get away from doing all this fiddling with the clocks. It's worth noting that in the same way we adapted to DST, we can also adapt to life without it.

In fact, I see how businesses have had to contend with the internet. Some have found ways to adapt, others, have shied away from it and failed to prosper as a result. The market disruption caused by the internet is far greater than changing or eliminating Daylight Savings Time. If we did eliminate DST, I'm sure that businesses, like their customers would adapt. And for once, the people would be heard and given priority over corporations.

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