BOCA RATON, FL--The fireworks are over but it's the cleaning up of the waste left over from July 4th events that have environmentalists fired up.
They refer to July 5th as 'Energy Independence Day' and local groups are rolling out their initiative to clean up Palm Beach County.
They are puttting out some pretty hefty requests, which include demanding the county ban the use of plastic bags.
"A lot of people think environmentalists are not patriotic," said Barry Silver of the Environmental Coalition.
"To protect the resources of this country is the most patriotic thing somebody can do."
Environmentalists spend many days throughout the year protesting, but Sunday was their day to plan.
"The people who caused change are real patriots. We want to demonstrate that change in the environment.
Activists met in groups all across the country. The plan is to strategize their goals for the second half of 2009.
The Palm Beach County Environmental Coalition met in a Boca Raton park to review their list. It includes:
Protecting the water quality by keeping the county from selling water to Broward County, pulling the plug on the FPL plant on Southern Boulevard, calling on the commission to ban the use of all plastic bags in the county, including penalizing grocery stores that continue to do so and forcing the Scripps Institute on the Jupiter FAU campus to stop animal testing.
"They should not be able to do this research without truly telling people what is happening."
The group says its toughest battle is fighting off stereotypes.
"We are pro-capitalism. We believe you can make money by being responsible," said Therese Leonza, of Greenpeace.
The environmental coalition has two lawsuits pending against FPL and Scripps. The group fought to keep Scripps from building on Mecca Farms in the western part of the county and won.
