In response to Sabrina Pepin’s Sept. 12 letter, it appalls me to read such a letter at such a critical moment in our nation’s history. To begin, flooring your gas pedal, turning your engine off at quick stops and weaving recklessly through traffic consumes much more fuel than it conserves.

Pepin must not have read the Sun Journal issue that depicted a graphic of what international markets pay in wholesale gas prices – about the same as us – and what we pay in terms of federally imposed fuel taxes – a whole lot less – when compared to other industrialized nations of the world. Thank God we do not live in Britain, or Pepin could be causing an accident every morning on her way to work.

The point is, not so long ago this nation made sacrifices to bolster the common good. Food, rubber and cloth, among a number of other items, had to be rationed and sacrificed from modern conveniences in times of crisis. Unfortunately, we live in a nation that will not sacrifice our SUVs, won’t explore alternate fuel technologies and that cannot be inconvenienced when a critical moment arises.

Americans need to change the way they live, not drive.

Tony Nadeau, Farmingdale