Letter: A call to enact ‘Sunrise Time’ – Chico Enterprise-Record

Every year, twice a year, the Boo Birds come out to bemoan changing the clocks. I hear politicians, news anchors and certain radio hosts proclaim that nobody needs or wants this. I insist there are millions of us that need this. We are the workers that rely on sunlight to do our jobs. And not just farmers, but road crews, rail workers, construction workers and countless other vocations.

The sun is the problem. Sunrise is approximately three hours later in December than in June, and with clouds or fog, workable daylight could be four hours later. Having a 5 a.m. start time in the summer could mean not having workable daylight until 9 a.m. in the winter if staying on DST. We only ask for a one hour shift to help offset this and it seems like a reasonable compromise.

However, if moving our clocks twice a year is still unacceptable, I have a solution.

We should abolish Standard Time & DST and adopt “Sunrise Time.” Sunrise shifts approximately one minute per day, but changing mechanical clocks everyday would have been impractical. But, nowadays almost all clocks are digital so they can be programmed to shift ever night my one minute, thus keeping sunrise at approximately the same time every day. Anti clock changers never have to feel the effects of loosing an hour and workers wont have to work in the dark. And this is much more inline with the natural circadian rhythm used by birds, beasts and our ancestors. WIN WIN!

— Mike Henderson, Butte Creek Canyon