Why do we not have Daylight Saving Time any longer?

BY Staff
Published: November 19, 2008 in Letters

Dear Editor,
Daylight Saving Time (DST) has been practised since Roman times. That is right, even when the clocks worked with water. Back then they simply divided a day into twelve hours, whether it was a long (summer) day or a short (winter) day. Instead of putting a predetermined amount of water in the clock, they changed it according to the season in such a way that the hours would be shorter or longer to accommodate the sun time.

This was done for the same reason that it is done today: to use the daytime better.
When one finishes working, at say, 4.30pm, survives the trip back home, has the good fortune to get a snack, changes clothes and has all the good intentions of going out to do some exercise, it is already dark.

I do not understand why we do not have DST any more, as we used to. I read a few years ago in the newspaper that it was decided the time change generated too many complications in terms of administration and as such it was abolished.
It makes me wonder: How complicated can it be to change your clock one hour? It definitely is more complicated for me to reset my computer and cell phone, but not to adjust my watch twice a year.

DST has been proven not to be effective so much in terms of energy saving, but in the great increase in sport activities and decrease in road traffic accidents, which we all know we have enough of.

To me there is something else: The simple fact of all of us doing something simultaneously, even as silly as adjusting our watches, is an opportunity to remember that despite the controversies, big or small, poor or rich, and all the opposites that you may think of, we are one nation and we do things together.
Yours faithfully,
Pierre Boucher

Comments

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24 Comments

M. Xiu Quan-Balgobind-Hackett says:

November 19, 2008 at 8:27 am

DST is not necessary in countries like Guyana that lie close to the equator where the time difference between daytime hours and nitetime hours is not significantly great throughout the year as in Guyana where the diffference today is just 11 minutes. It is VERY necessary, though, in high lattitude countries where the difference between day and night can be as much as 6 or more hours.

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- yasuman71 says:
  
  November 19, 2008 at 9:54 am
  
  Well said.
Ulric says:

November 19, 2008 at 9:58 am

Pierre, when the economy in Guyana was one that supported “daylight savings time” it was ok to have it. Now its “nighttime savings time”. You lock up your fowl pen, sheep pen, television, bangle, gold teeth, pants, shirt, shoes, car, bicycle et al. You get the picture? ” Nighttime savings time”. ISNM

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- Theo says:
  
  November 20, 2008 at 4:30 pm
  
  LOL!
amen-ra 173.52.9.100 not found says:

November 19, 2008 at 11:18 am

Guyana does not need daylight saving time, why do we alway want to do what america and other countries do, guyana has only two seasong, rainy and sunny so let’s keep it the way it is.

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Raymond Persaud says:

November 19, 2008 at 12:40 pm

I agree with Mr Q-B-Hacket, countries like Guyana do not need to adjust their times. Mr Boucher should understand that we do not need to copy everything the developed countries do.

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geeteerebel says:

November 19, 2008 at 2:41 pm

Well if one country is doing something better why not adopt. Look at Japan and cars. Do you think they invented the automobile ?

This is a easy decision…
DST is a quality of life and economic tool.
When I’m in Guyana i cant even knock lil ball after work because its bleeping dark at 5pm.

Then the Sun tries to pierce my eyelids before 5am…

What’s the debate?
Go home after work and play with the children, enjoy the sun and beauty of living in the tropics.
By the time you get home its time to sleep then wok again…sheeee

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- M. Xiu Quan-Balgobind-Hackett says:
  
  November 19, 2008 at 7:04 pm
  
  No part of Guyana is ever dark at 5 PM. The earliest the sun set in Guyana is minutes before 6 pm.
Brooklyn.Piano-man says:

November 19, 2008 at 4:20 pm

I do not see the necessity for DST in Guyana. In the US it was designed many years ago to benefit farmers. I hate changing my clock twice a year but that is the custom so we learn to adjust with the changes. As a country ‘you can do things better’ without trying to follow-pattern or duplicate customs and traditions of other more developed countries. Reminder: There are 4 seasons in America and 2 in Guyana.

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Mohamed says:

November 19, 2008 at 6:57 pm

It’s too bright at 6:00 AM in and too dark at 6:00 PM in Guyana.
I like it the old way - so we can have more time in the afternoon to do things.

Guyana should not have to reset the time at anytime during the year.

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- M. Xiu Quan-Balgobind-Hackett says:
  
  November 20, 2008 at 2:02 pm
  
  u get a point. but once it changed back left it! and don’t fiddle with it 2 times a yr!
PAUL says:

November 19, 2008 at 7:53 pm

I DO NOT SEE THE NECESSITY OF DST BUT WHAT I DO SEE WAS THE BACKWARDNESS OF THIS REGIME-THEY HAVE THIS PSYC UP TO THIS DAY THAT WHATEVER BURNHAM TOUCHES IS S—T/
FORBES DID THE RIGHT THING WHEN HE REWIND THE CLOCK AND ALLOW GUYNESE TO ENJOY A LITTLE MORE DAYLIGHT ALL YEAR. SOMETIME I AGREE WITH THAT DICTATOR BURNHAM

WE SHOULD GO BACK TO THE BASIC AND REWIND OUR CLOCK TO ONE HOUR EARLIER SO WE CAN HAVE SOMEDAY LIGHT . WHEN WE GET HOME TO BE WITH OUR KIDS-EXCERSISE AND OF COURSE SAVE ON ENERGY SINCE BLACKOUT IS A WAY OF LIFE HERE.

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- GREG says:
  
  November 19, 2008 at 11:51 pm
  
  Mohamed and Paul. You guys have it right. Guyana can extend their daylight time close to two hours most time of the year and it is all because we are close to the equator. At six in the morning it is bright as if it is eight in the US.
  
  All the negatives on this topic, stop to think about this - there are somethings to copy and some we don’t. This daylight saving system is good. Get up early and produce more. Is it any wonder we are among the poorest in the world. Kids in the US begin on their way to school before the first ray of sunlight - that’s when it is still dark. That’s the time some of us are getting back from the party in Guyana.
- docdalloo says:
  
  November 20, 2008 at 12:21 pm
  
  Not defending the PPP, but Paul it was MR Hoyte who set the clock back one hour. Other wise I agree with you. We should revert to the old time. There is too much time between sunrise and 8.00 am ( which is when most Guyanese start their day job).
- David EA Jenkins says:
  
  November 20, 2008 at 4:32 pm
  
  I am 75 years old, daylight saving time was the slave master thing in all the colonies, not only in Guyana. In Belize during these time sunrise to sunset is ten hours 21st December; on June 21, day light is 14 hour.
Mohamed says:

November 20, 2008 at 3:24 pm

Here’s the deal. Last time I visit Guyana… and I stayed with family on WCD - I was told to be back home by 6:00 PM because “it gets dark early and we lock up early.” I used to get off from school at 3:00 PM (Bishops’), play cricket till 5:00 - 6:00 PM, catch the Ferry at Stabroek by 6:30 when it’s still bright and be home at MMZorg by 8:00 PM.
In the morning time, the sun was just coming up when I lefft home for school. As a matter of fact I will pass the cane cutters who as you all know leave home before sunrise. In the afternoon, if I come home early, I could get in a couple of hours liming outside with the guys.
Now, yuh can’t do nuttin after coming home from school or wuk.
I say move the time back to when LFSB set it.. and leave it at that. No more spring forward or fall back. This is Guyana, not USof A or Canada.

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Caesar Agustus says:

November 20, 2008 at 9:11 pm

Because it is stupid. Stick to what you have. Real time.

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M. Xiu Quan-Balgobind-Hackett says:

November 19, 2008 at 2:59 pm

It’s easy when you have internet access and can check countries’ weather forecasts etc.

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geeteerebel says:

November 20, 2008 at 1:13 am

anyway…… i say shift the time 2 hrs fwd…
Give the people 2hrs daylight after work.
Your bookworms can argue what to call it.. DST, EST, EAT.. whatever….
oh and BTW
We already take everything from the west why not DST…
it will be in good company.. Capitalism, Democracy, food, money, cars, bikes, TV, .. everything but the work ethic (lol)

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decanadianCarlVeecock says:

November 20, 2008 at 5:40 pm

When was this done?

In what year?

I missed this part of our history.

Moderator….can you help if docdalloo cannot?

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amen-ra 173.52.9.100 not found says:

November 20, 2008 at 6:22 pm

what nonsense you talking, at six kids still in their bed, why we human always want to tamper with mother nature, when mother nature strike back we gon feel it, nature have it’s way of getting back at us silly human for tampering with it’s course.

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GREG says:

November 21, 2008 at 3:42 am

amen-ra. If you don’t know shut up. In Dallas county most children have to be in school at 7.00 - classes begins at 7.15. My daughter must be on the road to get the bus at 6.15. She gets out of bed at 5.30. Depending on the time of the year 6.15 is still night - pitch dark.

This is not talking nonsense, this is a daily routine. I once worked with Lowe’s home improvement store. We go to the store at 5.00 in the morning, winter of summer, to start work and open the doors at 6.00 so that builders can get last minute items early. You get it easy in Guyana. This is not tampering with nature it about personal strategies to better oneself.

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Ulric says:

November 20, 2008 at 7:21 pm

I expected that. In essence I expected LMAO.

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Caesar Agustus says:

November 23, 2008 at 9:16 pm

What do we need to save daylight for? Tell me? Utter crap. Studies have shown that daylight saving time saves nothing but costs businesses more.

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