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Graphs Provide Proof That Daylight Saving Time System Makes No Sense
By
Ben Yakas
Published Nov 28, 2015
Modified Nov 28, 2015
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By
Ben Yakas
Published Nov 28, 2015
Modified Nov 28, 2015
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You might be aware that certain Gothamist writers have very passionate, possibly psychotic opinions about the Daylight Saving Time system, the biggest chronological scam in human history BAR NONE. But this isn't just one man's bi-yearly chance to make fun of Chris Martin's family tree and draw pictures of depressed cows—there are lots of other enlightened people around America who have begun questioning the value of the antiquated DST system. And one of those people have created a few pertinent graphs that expose, yet again, just how unnecessary it has become.
Axis Maps cartographer Andy Woodruff has put aside questions of historical value/purpose (which leaves out the full colorful history of shady international figures who secretly worked together behind-the-scenes to introduce the stubborn chronological hiccup into society) to perform his own analyzation of the DST system, focusing specifically on the shifts in sunrise and sunset. Watch the scenarios play out below:
Woodruff concludes, "If you want consistent morning daylight, you should be as far southeast in your time zone as possible. I recommend the Big Island of Hawaii. If, like me, you’re all about evening sun, hop the border to the southwest part of the next time zone. But remember that’s for consistency, not total daylight. The farther north you go, the longer days will be in the summer—but the shorter they’ll be in winter."
Go over to Woodruff's site to play with an interactive version of the map, or check out a similar interactive feature by Keith Collins on Quartz to see how many hours of sun you'd get with or without DST.
So at the end of the day, this should probably be a state by state decision (Hawaii and Arizona already have opted out of the system)—what works for New Yorkers may not work for people in California, and that's fine. I don't know any New Yorkers who get out of work before 5 or 5:30 p.m. (at the earliest), so in winter, no one is getting any sunlight in the later parts of the day as things stand. Isn't that more depressing than anything else?
If all this isn't enough, maybe you'll listen to the please from our best late night hosts. As he put it: "What you lose in sleep, you gain in mortal danger."
It doesn't benefit our energy, our health, or our cows. Don't stand for this. Either make DST permanent time, or abolish it entirely. Write your local congressman. Send them our manifesto.
Tagged
daylight saving time
dst
please send me before congress to testify
sunlight
the hill I will die on
time
war
Ben Yakas
Ben Yakas is a former Gothamist reporter.
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Gothamist is funded by sponsors and member donations
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