In Alaska, saving daylight time isn'€™t necessary

In the last legislative session, a bill passed the House that would repeal Daylight Saving Time in Alaska. Now it awaits the Senate.

It’s simple enough. In the summer, do we really need another hour of sunlight when the sun shines from 3 a.m. to midnight? In the winter, it’s dark all the time anyway.

Those who think we should just do away with the government-enduced time management say it’s a 24-7 world anyway what with the Internet and global communications.

Those who think it’s necessary to keep in step with the rest of the nation say being out of rhythm six months a year is not acceptable and harmful to business.

Only two states, Hawaii and Arizona — except for the Navajo Nation — and the territories of Puerto Rico, Virgin Islands, Guam, and American Samoa are the only places in the U.S. that do not observe DST.

So Alaska would be in the distinct minority if it we decided to stay with standard time year-round.

The thing of it is, though, the difference in times is a national computation everywhere. Is it that hard to add or subtract an hour to plan a phone conference in New York? We’re already fours difference from the Big Apple and do business accordingly.

There was a time here when Alaska had four time zones and no Internet and no Blackberries and still Alaskans were able to conduct business Outside.

So why the need to mess with Mother Nature?

Some historians claim it was first brought up by no other than Benjamin Franklin who thought an extra hour of daylight would mean less use of candles. And that’s the reason now. If we’re outside doing something, then we’re not home burning electricity or natural gas. That in places where an extra hour of daylight actually means something. Other reasons cited are safety and health. People can drive home from work with more sun, avoiding some accidents. Children can play another hour — and so can their golfing parents.

All Alaskans will never agree on the change, but if there’s one place in the United States where an hour here or an hour there simply doesn’t matter, it’s here. No matter what time it is, soon it will be dark when you drive to work and when you drive home.