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Will Montana Become America's Third State To Ditch Daylight Savings Time? (missoulian.com)

Posted by EditorDavid on from the falling-backward dept.

"Okay...twice every year Slashdot disses Daylight savings time," writes turkeydance, bringing a story from Montana, where lawmakers are proposing that the state should stop setting their clocks forward by one hour every spring. Similar legislation in several past sessions...failed to advance even out of committee. But SB206 passed committee unanimously and once on the floor, more than twice as many senators voted for it as against it. Now the House will take up SB206 during the session's second half, and likely with a renewed focus on the history of daylight saving time and what it would mean for Montana to become only the third state in the country not to observe it.
Daylight savings time has been opposed by a grassroots group of Montana farmers and ranchers, who have to sync their work schedule to the sun rather than the time on the clock, but similar legislation has also been introduced in Texas, California, Iowa, New Mexico, Michigan, Rhode Island, Wisconsin, and Washington. Daylight savings time was originally introduced as an energy-saving measure during World Wars I and II, and returned during the 1970s energy crisis. There's just one problem, reports Live Science. "No one really knows whether daylight saving time saves energy at all. Research is decidedly mixed on the subject, with some studies actually finding that daylight saving time boosts energy consumption."

10 of 228 comments (clear)

  1. SAVING by manicpop · · Score: 5, Informative

    daylight saving time

    1. Re:SAVING by The+Real+Dr+John · · Score: 4, Informative

      DST is biologically absurd. Earth time is based on an approximately 24 hr day, with seasonal shifts in the length of the day/night cycle based on latitude. Biological organisms synchronize with this cycle (termed circadian entrainment). Trying to shift that cycle by 1 hour artificially twice a year is counterproductive and harmful.

      http://www.nejm.org/doi/full/1...

      It is time (pun intended) to stop this nonsense.

      --
      A brain is a terrible thing to waste... Mind? That's debatable.
    2. Re:SAVING by skids · · Score: 3, Interesting

      I just prefer to drive home from work in daylght. So I'd rather have DST all the time than never.

      --
      Someone had to do it.
    3. Re: SAVING by corychristison · · Score: 4, Interesting

      As someone even more North than you (Canadian Prairies), it doesnt make any sense... sun is still down when most people go to work, and sun goes back down again before most people are done work.

      Shifting it an hour really has no benefit when you only get 7 hours of daylight in the winter.

      In the Summer it's polar opposite. Sun comes up between 5-6 am, sets around 10pm.

      With that said, where I live, we don't have DST and I'm damn glad we don't.

      It's largely a regional thing, based on where you are geographically. This is why generalized discussions about DST don't make sense. Everyone lives in different area's both on the horizontal and vertical axis.

      In other words, your experience is not my experience. How about we quit arguing about it and get on with our lives?

    4. Re:SAVING by Gussington · · Score: 4, Funny

      Just get to work early and you can leave early so you will get more daylight after work.

      And get all your friends to do it too. And all the shops, and the schools, and all the sports clubs, and... oh wait....

  2. More Useful Daylight in Summer by Lawrence_Bird · · Score: 4, Insightful

    All that matters is we get some extra daylight after work during the warm time of year so we can enjoy it. Is it a little darker in the morning that first month? Small price to pay. To alleviate the supposed "stress" of the one hour change, do it on Sat. instead of Sun. But honestly, are people dropping dead flying across a one hour time zone change?

    1. Re:More Useful Daylight in Summer by 93+Escort+Wagon · · Score: 4, Insightful

      I like daylight saving for this exact reason - more daylight after work (and no, I can't just change my work schedule to give myself more daylight time in the evenings).

      I'd be fine with just settling on daylight savings time year round... no more "spring forward, fall back". I live in Washington state, so during winter it's going to be dark when I'm going to work and when I'm coming home anyway...

      Heck, what I'd really like is the idea the Car Talk guys threw out there many years ago - "Double Dutch Daylight Savings", meaning the clocks would be adjusted by two hours. Do that, and do it year round.

      --
      #DeleteChrome
    2. Re: More Useful Daylight in Summer by ASDFnz · · Score: 3, Funny

      Obviously the guy who came up with DST, had his IQ reduced by fluoridated water & autism from vaccines.

      Benjamin Franklin? I am fairly sure that fluoridated water and vaccines had not been invented yet.

  3. Everyone keeps geting it backwards by Narcocide · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Daylight Savings Time is good. We need to stop turning it off in the winter.

  4. DST is not the issue by markdavis · · Score: 4, Insightful

    >"Okay...twice every year Slashdot disses Daylight savings time,

    Most people on Slashdot are not dissing Daylight Savings Time. That isn't the issue. The issue is CHANGING TIME TWICE A YEAR. Just put it on DST and leave it there permanently!