You need to know this. Germany is dropping nuclear power. Chancellor Angela Merkel announced plans yesterday to close down every single nuclear plant in the country by 2022 – that’s 17 reactors in all. Germany has the fourth largest economy in the world – and the largest economy in Europe and generates about 25% of its electricity from nuclear power – just like we do in the United States.

But already, Germany has shut down 7 reactors in the wake of the Fukushima disaster and is now committed to doubling its renewable energy output by 2022 also. Germany will join Italy as the only two nations in the G8 that have ditched nuclear power. Currently – the renewable energy sector in Germany employs nearly 400,000 people.

Since the United States still has no plans to drop nuclear power and switch to renewables – and hasn’t had a long-term energy plan since Reagan - let Germany serve as an example of how a nation can transform itself when its government isn’t completely captured by special interests.