Editor:
Permanent Daylight Time has been tried before, in 1974 by Richard Nixon signed it into law in January 1974, with 79% of Americans indicating support, which dropped to 42% by February 1974 due to the extended morning darkness that even led to some schools shifting the start of classes to later in the morning. In October 1974 president Gerald Ford reversed the legislation. The bigger problem is the further north you go (north of California) the worse the dark mornings are, especially a month before winter solstice to one month after. California it could be livable but in B.C., the time difference leads to even later sunrise, for example Dec 21 in Sacramento, Sunrise PDT 8:19 a.m., in Vancouver, Sunrise PDT 9:05 a.m.
Why is it we forget to check history and disregard our health professionals that warn it may be a mental health issue with those extended dark mornings and we disregarding our Circadian clocks that our bodies normally function, with the sunrise and sunset keeping our sanity and that are messed up with each clock change or permanent daylight shifting sunrise to later in the morning.
BC voters were not given real opportunity to consider the alternate, permanent Standard Time (where the sun is closer to its apex at high noon), which would be more in line with our own internal clocks. The choice was either permanent Daylight Time or maintain the time change twice a year. Are we going to run this same experiment again, will we ever learn from our past mistakes?
Best Regards,
Bert & Bernice Hogendoorn
Sechelt
