Biography
The Director of Ocean Policy at New England Aquarium’s Anderson Cabot Center for Ocean Life (ACCOL), Sarah applies her extensive ocean conservation experience working across sectors and at the intersections of science and law to oversee policies that protect and restore the blue planet. In her role, she directs and manages the Aquarium’s ocean agenda to influence government policies that advance animal and ocean health and promote the responsible use of the ocean. She works closely with ACCOL scientific teams and senior members of the External Relations and Public Policy and Advocacy teams to define and implement tactical strategies, priorities and external relationships that support the Aquarium’s ocean conservation goals.
Sarah’s work has spanned interdisciplinary research on the ocean’s seafloor to its uppermost polar region, and has played a role in the negotiation of multiple environmental agreements. She has wide-ranging professional experience in strategic design and guidance, outreach and stewardship, consensus building, and linking ocean and climate science to policy through research, analysis and engagement. Before joining the Aquarium in 2022, Sarah taught environmental law courses as an Assistant Professor of Law, and served as the Head of an Observer delegation to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) negotiations in support of small island nations. She is published in cross-disciplinary journals such as Science and the Stanford Environmental Law Journal and continues to teach as Adjunct Faculty at Vermont Law School. She also has experience working for and with a broad range of interdisciplinary teams of scientists and decisionmakers: at the Monterey Bay Aquarium, at a United States Air Force Operational Weather Squadron, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) Office of General Counsel, the Center for Ocean Solutions at Stanford University, and the Oxford Seascape Ecology Lab at the University of Oxford
Sarah serves on the Executive Committee of the Aquarium Conservation Partnership, and the Steering Committee of the Environmental Law Institute’s Emerging Leaders Initiative. She volunteers with her local recreation center, coaching youth soccer and lacrosse, and resides with her family in Vermont. When not fighting for the ocean, you can usually find her in open water, training for marathon swims.
Publications
Articles
An Upwelling of Support for the Ocean-Climate-Biodiversity Nexus: Progress toward Institutionalization at COP26 (with Caroline Fullam, Aaron L. Strong, and Angelique Pouponneau) Sustainability and Climate Change Vol. 14, No. 6 (December 2021).
"A Framework for Operationalizing Climate-Just Ocean Commitments Under the Paris Agreement" (with Cheng, L., Pouponneau, A., Taylor, S., Wedding, L.) Frontiers Climate Law and Policy (October 28, 2021).
Wedding, L.M., Reiblich, J. Gourlie, D., Reiter, S., E. Hartge and A. Guerry. Coastal ecosystem service and climate adaptation policy assessment. ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCE AND POLICY (in prep).
Melius, M., Reiter, S., Newkirk, S., The Coastal Act, Power Plants, and the Case for “Undevelopment,” 18 VT. J. ENVT’L L. 4 (2017).
Legal Advocacy
Chapters
Presentations
Panel Moderator, Ocean/Water Pollution Panel, Vermont Journal of Environmental Law Symposium: The World of Waste in a Wasteful World (October 16, 2021).
Moderator, “A World of Waste in a Wasteful World: Ocean/Water Pollution Panel,” Vermont Journal of Environmental Law Symposium. (October 2021).
"From California to the Clarion Clipperton Zone, a deep dive on the evolution, design principles and function of networks of marine protected areas, with a focus on how ecological law can play a role in ongoing treaty negotiations for marine biodiversity on the high seas," EL&G Webinar Series, Ecological Law and Governance Association (June 2021).
"The New High Seas Treaty," Environmental Studies Program, Dartmouth College, November 17, 2020.
Assessing Ambition and Conditionality in Nationally Determined Contributions under the Paris Agreement, MSc in Biodiversity, Conservation and Management program, School of Geography and the Environment, University of Oxford (November 11, 2020).
"International Ocean Governance - Applications at the Science-Policy Interface," MSc in Biodiversity, Conservation and Management program, School of Geography and the Environment, University of Oxford (October 28, 2020).
Moderator, "Nature-Based Solutions," Vermont Journal of Environmental Law Annual Symposium, Vermont Law School (October 16, 2020).
“An Ocean-Climate Strategy to Achieve Ocean-Climate Health,” 11th Annual Colloquium on Environmental Scholarship, Vermont Law School, (September 26, 2020).
"The Future of the Public Trust: The Muddied Waters of Rockweed Management in Maine,” Ocean and Coastal Law Journal Symposium on Innovations and Aquaculture and Law, Bath, Maine (March 27, 2020).
Awards & Accomplishments
Awards, Honors or Grants
Honorary Research Associate, School of Geography and the Environment, University of Oxford (June 2019)