Stance Against Daylight Time

A bill passed by the Louisiana legislature would require the state to switch to a year-round Daylight Savings Time if the Federal Government votes to allow it. The US Senate has passed the “Sunshine Protection Act”, but the House has not taken up the bill as yet. The Baton Rouge Astronomical Society publicly opposes the adoption of year-round Daylight Time both statewide and across any combination of parishes. While we dislike the twice-annual time switch along with the majority of the world, we feel that the adoption of permanent Daylight Time is the wrong way to resolve this issue.

Daylight Time does not “save” Daylight, and its year-round use would extremely hinder the ability for astronomy hobby clubs to perform outreaches for schools, churches and the general public. Young children would be forced to stay up one extra hour to order to see any appreciable number of dark sky objects.

Daylight Time is Fake Time. It imposes a warped view of clock use and the concept of time on young people still attempting to grasp its passage and how it affects the human condition.

Many in the health field have warned that such a radical change in the clock does indeed negatively affect basic bodily rhythms which are intimately connected to real solar time.

The switch to a full-year daylight time would also increase the number of days that most people working 9-5 jobs would be required to show up to work before sunrise, which most people find disagreeable.

There is evidence to suggest that the push for year-round Daylight Time is initiated mainly by specific special interest groups and industries.

There is little evidence supporting the notion that air conditioning bills and heating bills are lowered. Climate-controlled buildings will control their internal climates regardless of how many people are inside or when they start their work days.

Changing to a permanent Daylight Time would require approval of the Federal Government, and the Senate has done so. The House will need to pass the bill and the President to sign the bill for permanent Daylight savings Time to become law – it would become effective in November of 2023. At this time, Arizona and Hawaii do not observe DST, and haven’t in the past. The bill will give them an exception and not require them to change.

https://legis.la.gov/legis/FindMyLegislators.aspx

More information on this topic can be found at: http://savestandardtime.com/

Thank you.