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RSS FeedWe should end the practice of daylight saving time
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| Agree | 61% | 44 votes | Total: 72 votes | |
| Disagree | 39% | 28 votes |
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Add to FavoritesThe need why the practice of Daylight Savings Time must end is best displayed in the small town of Tusayan, Arizona just outside of Grand Canyon National Park. Being a part of the state of Arizona, which chose to not observe Daylight Savings Time, it keeps the same time all year long. But from the Second Sunday on March to the first Sunday in November, a drive ten miles to the north to will change the time by an hour. The reason why this is so is because Grand Canyon National Parkis federally owned land and does observe Daylight Saving Time. This change in time makes a logistical nightmare in Tusayan and makes tourist scratch their heads, perplexed how they lose an hour of daylight as soon as they drive ten minutes. it also leaves the people of Tusayan, Flagstaff, and Grey Mountain, Arizona near the Grand Canyon and the Navajo Nation (who also observes Daylight Savings Time) sore on why the federal government must adopt such an archaic system that makes a drive to the north a logistical timing nightmare.
One of the reasons that have been used and continued to be used to justify Daylight Savings Time is that it conserves energy. Many nations have seen through this reasoning, and even the State of Arizonais quick to point out the opposite is true. Daylights Saving Time actually makes people use more energy because they are arriving home from work or school during the evening and will use energy with lighting until they go to bed regardless if it is dark or not. Many will wake up before dawn and use more energy with lighting until they go to work. it has been proven that Daylights Saving Time actually forces people to use more energy than they normally would and many opponents of daylight savings time state that riding ourselves of this nuisance would actually conserve energy.
Plus it also makes it dangerous for pedestrians in early morning hours going to work. It has been stated that dark conditions make it harder for drivers to see people crossing streets and makes it more likely for drivers to harm or kill pedestrians. This message really hits home when we consider the amount of schoolchildren walk to school each day. Having dark conditions in the morning hours in early fall makes a very hazardous situation for our nation's youth walking to school. Many students have been killed or harmed because Daylights Savings time made it too dark for a driver to see them crossing the street in time. How many students will we choose to loose to this system when repealing it would reduce pedestrian deaths of schoolchildren and even adults.
It's about time that Americans and other nations choose to end this system and rid our selves of a system that is no longer relevant and never achieves its ends. Because whether we accept it or not, changing the time by an hour in spring has more implications that waking up groggy the next day from losing an hour of sleep. it costs energy, lives and annoys us all, especially the residents of northern Arizona. The practice of Daylights Savings Time must be ended for these reasons. Ben Franklin who invented Daylight Savings Time was one of the greatest inventors of all time, but it might have been one of the worst inventions he came up with. It's about time we put Daylights Saving time in the history books like its creator.
Learn more about this author, Justin Patterson.
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Disagree
It seems as though every year when it's time to turn my clock back, I think how ridiculous it is that we still adhere to this archaic time-honored tradition. Even though many of my clocks adjust themselves, it still irks me that I yet have to change the time on several, the car's being the worst.
I can never remember how to change the infernal device in the first place, so I end up not watching the road as I maddeningly push and hold buttons that do almost everything but adjust my clock. And you know what, even with the time change, it's still fairly dark out in the morning, and there are deer and Amish running wild on the streets.
But aside from the mild inconveniences and another impetus to be crabby about something, I think I would miss the subtleties inherent in the ritual. I can guarantee that I would bitch and moan about its being gone. For one thing, aside from those in the alcohol distribution arena, it is not an overly-consumerized function.
How many societal ritualized traditions do we have left that can boast this lack of crass commercialism? And then there's that little saying: spring forward, fall back. I'd hate to see that relegated to Trivial Pursuit questions that those born after a certain date can't fathom, like according to Hoyle or not worth a plugged nickel.
As you might guess, I live in a rural agricultural area that has a large Swartzentruber Amish population and abundant wildlife. Obviously neither the Amish nor the deer benefit nor lose anything because of the construction of the seemingly arbitrary time change ritual.
Nor, I suppose do most agricultural folk for whom this bizarre practice was ostensibly intended. But, honestly, are those good enough reasons to abandon it altogether.
I like the romance of it. Autumn in Ohio is an amazing occurrence, especially for those of us who still can feel the awe of the turning, falling and burning leaves, the harvest activities, the apple cider, the pumpkins, the hay rides, the Halloween rituals, and on-and-on.
Even surrounded by all this rustic beauty and charm, there is no time of the year that brings me closer to the workings of Nature and Man's eternal struggle to exist within it. I don't want to lose any of it; including asking my wife every week in October when we need to turn the clocks back.
Learn more about this author, Jim Snyder.
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