Tara Ruttenberg

Writer, free surfer, research consultant and PhD in development studies (Wageningen University). Tara’s passions include decolonizing sustainable surf tourism, exploring development alternatives for post-capitalist realities, and supporting community economies for social wellbeing in harmony with nature.

Tara's work has been featured in books like the Critical Surf Studies Reader, Lessons from the Eco-Laboratory: Environmental Governance and Economic Development in Costa Rica, and The Routledge Handbook of Latin American Development; in peer-reviewed academic journals including Tourism Planning & Development and Sport & Tourism; at conferences including Impact Zones & Liminal Spaces, Deep Ecology of Wellness, Envision Festival, Surf + Social Good, ECHO, and the Institute for Women Surfers; as well as online and in print with Sea Together, Sea Maven, Elephant Journal, The Huffington Post, The Inertia, Sunshine Surf Girls, Yoga Trade, 7 Mares, Desert Jewels, and more.

Tara created Tarantula Surf as a platform for authentic sharing and engaging with alternative socioecological paradigms for a more beautiful world. A nomad by nature, she lives most of the time at the beach in Costa Rica.

Read Tara's stories, go deeper with a sustainability or empathic coaching session, learn more about her writing services + creative writing programs, or dive right in and join Tara on retreat in Costa Rica.  

To commission an article or story for publication, or to hire Tara's writing services, please contact her directly, here.