By Christopher Nyerges

[Copyright::Christopher Nyerges is the editor of Wilderness Way magazine, and former editor of LAment. He is the author of 5 books, including Enter the Forest, Urban Wilderness, and Extreme Simplicity (co-authored with Dolores Nyerges). He and Dolores operate the School of Self-reliance, whose website is [www.self-reliance.net.]

Once again, I am wondering why I must "lose" an hour this Sunday in our twice-annual manipulation of time. What am I gaining? Why do we do this to ourselves?

Daylight savings time is a manipulation of the basic solar time within each time zones standard. It was said to be an idea of Benjamin Franklin, and was begun in the United States during world wars one and two, and eventually became "official" in all but two states. Mexico only recently adopted daylight savings time, a result of pressuring our southern neighbor to be in step with the U.S. But many Mexicans asked, "What do we need this for? What is the benefit of this?"

Indeed, daylight savings time is like a quaint tradition of a bygone era that refuses to die. It is a pointless habit with little recognizable merit, akin to adding fluoride to everyones drinking water so that poor children can have good teeth (a premise based upon shaky scientific data at best).

David Letterman once asked the question to his audience during his monologue: Why do we practice daylight savings time? "it's so the farmers have more light," he laughed, answering his own question. "But how does that give the plants more light?" That's a Letterman joke for you, but he revealed a truth hidden under his humor. Most people Don't know why we have daylight savings time, and fewer still experience any tangible benefits from it.

There are two often-cited reasons for the use of daylight savings time. One is so that, in the fall, the children can have more light going to school in the morning. But consider the following: the children have an hour more of daylight in late October, when the clock is set back ("fall back") to standard time. Get that? It is the very use of daylight savings time which creates a darker morning as the days get shorter and shorter. The "falling back" an hour merely puts us back in sync with the local time zone. It is the use of daylight savings time that created the problem of less light in the morning, and only in that sense can you say that the "falling back" to regular time gives children that extra hour of light. In other words, this is a problem caused by daylight savings time.

Another commonly cited reason for the use of daylight savings time is so there is more usable light in the afternoons and evenings of the summertime, presumably so that farmers can work outside longer, and so that citydwellers can work around the house longer without consuming electricity. Again, these are very hollow reasons.

My grandfather, and all my uncles on my mothers side were farmers. I have some knowledge of the schedule of farmers. There is not one that I know who does not arise at the crack of dawn, if not sooner. There is no other way to function as a farmer. You then proceed to work as long as needed, and as long as you are able. The manipulation of clocks in no way affected how much work they got done, or not done.

As for the average city worker working around the house and not using as much electricity because of daylight saving time, I am simply not convinced that this is such a great pressing need which compels us to manipulate our clocks.

I have talked to many people about daylight savings time. Some like it, some do not. Some are annoyed by it, some find the long afternoons of summer very enjoyable. Everyone has arrived late (or early) on the first Sunday (even Monday in some cases) after the changing of the clocks. Daylight savings time thus gives millions of people a quasi-valid excuse for lateness at least once a year.

I have never talked to, heard or, or met a single person who has declared that the implementation of daylight savings time was somehow critical or important to their lifestyle, livelihood, or business. Not one! Thus, from where does the pressure arise to keep and maintain this "white elephant."

In my childhood, I remember that the switch from daylight savings time to standard time would always occur on the weekend before Halloween. This always meant that the neighborhood would be dark an hour earlier, meaning we could "hit the streets" earlier, and have at least another hour of raising hell than we would have had the week before. One advantage to keeping standard time year-round is that the annual "festivities" of Halloween would last about an hour less, due to the defacto ending (for children) of Halloween around 9 p.m. This might help to reduce the accidents and criminal activity we've now come to expect during Halloween.

We all utilize the never-ending cycling of hours as a gauge to our lifes activities. We get accustomed to certain patterns and rhythms. I have found that my body tends to arise at the same "time," whether the clock reads standard or daylight savings time. But since none of us live in a vacuum, there is always the necessity to "re-adjust" after each changing of the clocks so that our natural rhythms are then re-aligned with the legal time. It sometimes takes me two or three days for this adjustment. Is this really necessary?

Let's end daylight savings time entirely and adopt a year-round standard time. Those who wish to start school or go to work earlier can do so! Such voluntary time alterations are fine if those individuals and businesses choose to do so. It may even make the freeways less crowded at rush hours. But keep the standard time year-round.

Yes, this is a small thing in the context of a world at war, with hate and suspicion in all political camps, and endless economic hardships all over the world. In that big-picture sense, this is just a little issue. But this is still an issue that should be resolved, and dealt with.

Let's end daylight savings time as a pointless relic of the past that has out-lived its usefulness. How can we all work together to bring our clocks back into sync with standard time? Let me hear from you.

[The author can be reached at Box 41834, Eagle Rock, CA 90041; [323.255.9502]