PLEASE HELP ABOLISH DAYLIGHT SAVING TIME IN ALASKA

March 17, 2012   -  Welcome to the site.  This silly practice of changing clocks continues.  If you want to end DST in Alaska YOU must ask your legislator to repeal the use of Daylight Saving Time in Alaska.  Then if legislation is introduced YOU must testify at the hearings either in writing or in person. 

Latest poll showing Alaskans want to end DST;  From State Legislative Poll dated February 2010:

Q 22. In early March this year Alaska will switch to Daylight Saving Time. In November we will adjust our clocks and switch back again. What is your opinion about that - do you support Alaska switching to Daylight Savings Time for the summer and then switching back in the fall, or should we leave our clocks the same throughout the year? 

Switch Clocks: 41% (In other words ....Keep DST in Alaska)

Leave the Same: 55% (In other words...Get rid of DST in Alaska)

Unsure: 4%

24 REASONS ALASKANS CAN NOW QUIT USING DAYLIGHT SAVING

1. Alaskan's live in " The land of the Midnight Sun".

2. Instant time change disturbs sleep patterns which creates a state sponsored "jet lag" twice each year.

3. There is no longer a clear and compelling need to impact over 683,000 Alaskans twice each year with this law.

4. Three statewide polls in 2004, 2005, and in 2010 show a majority of Alaskans now want to quit changing clocks.

5. With creation of the single Alaskan Time Zone in 1983  most of Alaska went  on  permanent DST.

6. The 1983 time zone change advanced clocks permanently in two of the three Alaskan time zones affected.   Now when we advance clocks each year, we create" double" and even "triple" DST in most of Alaska which causes a two hour difference between "sun time" and "clock time" in the rail belt region including Fairbanks and Anchorage and three hours in Western Alaska communities and villages.

7. The 1983 time zone change permanently advanced the rail belt region one hour and  northwestern Alaska  two hours closer to markets in the lower 48.

8. What savings of daylight?  For every hour you gain in evening daylight, you lose an hour of morning light.

9. We gain daylight rapidly in springtime Alaska without DST.  According to the (Naval Observatory), rounding to the nearest half hour, both Anchorage and Fairbanks have gained one  hour of natural daylight within 8 days of the onset of DST.

10. Advances in communication technology now allow business and personal contact 24/7 to anywhere in the nation or world.

11. Alaska will be in a different time zone with or without DST.

12.  Alaska now does business with the Pacific Far East where DST is not used.

13. Commercial aviation and other international business organizations who operate in Alaska use GMT (Greenwich Mean Time) which never changes.  Adjusting local business schedules to compensate for the twice annual change to local time adds to the cost of doing business in Alaska.

14. No Alaskan Utility claims a savings of energy by use of DST.  Saving Energy is why the Federal Government allows  DST in those states that choose to use DST.  

15.  DST doesn't save energy on a hot summer day either. (Scientific American March 2009) A portion of Indiana recently went on DST.  That portion experienced 1% increase in residential electrical use due to air conditioning increase use when time of sunset delayed. 

16. (New England Journal of Medicine 2008)  Sweden,  a northern latitude populace, experienced 5% increase in myocardial infarction (heart attack) rate in days following onset of DST.  This is attributed to disturbance in sleep patterns.

17.  Anchorage School District supports ending DST because of impact on students (Committee Minutes 4:06:15 PM Mar 16,  2009 before House Labor and Commerce Committee).

18.  Daylight Saving Time is not practiced in every State or Canadian Province.  Hawaii and Arizona don't use DST.  Saskatchewan has adopted Central Standard Time for year round use.

19.  Changing every time keeping device in homes and businesses, including indoor mechanical heating/cooling/security systems, is expensive and time consuming.  Link to  story about the cost of  this.  Chrysler scraps clock changing

20.  The Legislature cannot control the ocean tides for fishermen,  nor  the weather that will impact outdoor activity.

21.  The Nenanna Ice Classic enjoyed by thousands of Alaskans records the winning time using Standard Time, not DST.

22.  DST doesn't affect the many devices now  using  photoelectric sensors that respond to ambient light,  not the time of day.

23.  Thousands of Alaskans signed a petition asking to vote on this issue and polling data from Dittman Research and Hellenthal & Associates shows majority of Alaskans would support ending DST use in Alaska.

24. Since 1999 this idea of ending DST, when allowed to heard by a legislative committee,  has had seven legislative hearings.  After being thoroughly vetted, the Alaska House of  Representatives passed House Bill 19 in 2009 to end the use of DST in Alaska. The Senate leadership killed the bill by routing the bill to a committee chairman who  refused to allow the bill to pass from his committee without any explanation given. 

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Change your clocks again at 2:00a.m. on Sunday November 4, 2012. 

Links for further reading in the website:

THE 2004 DITTMAN RESEARCH POLL ON DAYLIGHT SAVING TIME (LINK)

THE 2005 HELLENTHAL POLL ON DAYLIGHT SAVING TIME (LINK)

WHY END DAYLIGHT SAVING TIME IN ALASKA ? (LINK)

LEGISLATIVE EFFORT TO END DAYLIGHT SAVING TIME IN ALASKA SINCE 1999 (LINK)

LINKS TO THE LEGISLATURE AND OTHER  PLACES (LINK)

NEW BOOKS ABOUT DAYLIGHT SAVING TIME (LINK)

 THE 2006 PETITION EFFORT (LINK)

Thanks for visiting the web site. Please check back for updates.

EMAIL : email link

L. Willis