Max Greene talks trash: how to dispose of it, how to transform it, and how to reduce its impact on our health and the environment.

• Author: Greene, Max
• Position: FIVE QUESTIONS FOR...

You joined CLF about a year ago. What drew you to environmental law?

For as long as I can remember, I've had an environmental ethic and felt a strong connection with nature. I was a founding member of my high school's environmental club and spent much of my childhood rambling in the woods of Delaware.

But it was a class on natural resources law at Roger' Williams University School of Law in Rhode Island that truly captivated me. Ever since, I've been drawn to environmental issues, seeking them out while serving as a law clerk in Rhode Island Superior Court and at Rhode Island Legal Services. While working as a law clerk to the Honorable 0. Rogeriee Thompson at the United States Court of Appeals for the First Circuit, I handled complex cases involving the Endangered Species Act, the Superfund statute, and the Resource Conservation and Recovery Act.

I read that you're also somewhat of an expert on chicken ordinances.

Several years ago, the director of Providence's Southside Community Land Trust asked me if I would draft an ordinance allowing Providence residents to keep chickens. I didn't know much about the issue at the time, but after researching it and meeting with residents who were then keeping chickens illegally, it resonated with me. Eliminating local bans on chickens makes sense environmentally, as a matter of food policy, and as a matter of individual rights, especially for the poor and disenfranchised - all issues I care deeply about.

You're one of the attorneys for a case that CLF has filed against the owners and operators of Rhode Island's massive Central Landfill. Why is CLF taking on the landfill?

CLF believes the Central Landfill has violated emissions standards by failing to adequately collect landfill gas, which contains pollutants that can be harmful to the...