A Big Boo to Extending Daylight Savings Time

A Haunted Bay Rant by Hauntmistress 09/05/2005

I am a vampire. Well, not literally, but I love the nighttime and I‘m happy to stay indoors during daylight hours. Living in the Bay Area where it is sunny most of the time, the nighttime offers an escape from the sun.  Plus, once Daylight Savings Time ends and we “fall back” an hour, the early darkness serves to enhance the Bay Area's weak fall and winter seasons. When I was a kid I would always hate those hot Halloween nights and wished our fall weather was cool and breezy. But at least it was dark for trick-or-treating. Now, thanks to the 2005 Energy Bill, passed by Congress and signed by President Bush in August, we won’t even have that.

Daylight Savings Time is currently in effect from the first Sunday in April to the last Sunday in October. Beginning in 2007, Daylight Savings Time will be in effect from the second Sunday in March to the first Sunday in November.

I know people in “snowy” states are looking for voodoo dolls to use against me for complaining about California weather, and I know I’m lucky that I live somewhere where I don’t have to worry about hurricanes, tornadoes, floods, snow storms, etc. But can’t we leave alone what little seasonal change that we do have? Because the weather is so consistent, getting darker earlier tells us the seasons are changing. It makes me feel happy that fall is approaching; that the holidays are coming; that even though when I leave work and it’s dark outside, it’s still early out; that it doesn’t have to be 9 pm before those that want to trick-or-treat when it’s dark can go out.

Why is Daylight Savings Time being extended, you ask? The thought is that by increasing daylight hours, people will use less electricity (no need to turn on the lights in the house if it’s light outside…). But what about the TV, radio, stove, microwave, etc.? Won’t we still use those things when it's light out? And don’t we turn everything off when we go to bed, which is when it’s dark outside? Keeping it lighter outside for a longer period of time will only delay going to bed and turning off all our appliances. Moreover, studies show that our electricity usage is reduced by about one percent per day when Daylight Savings Time is in effect. One percent a day hardly seems worth the government just up and changing what time it is!

There are many more important things in this world to gripe over besides this, but I love the fall and Halloween and anything that messes with my enjoyment of these things deserves a few sentences!