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Ecotourism is travel which is small scale, low impact, culturally sensitive, community orientated, primarily nature based and educational but providing a unique experience, firmly grounded in sustainable principles and practices. Ecotourism is: "Responsible travel to natural areas that conserves the environment and improves the well-being of local people." (TIES, 1990)  Tawnylust Lodge has been listed by Catherine Mack in the book Ecoescapes as one of the top 50 Eco destinations in Ireland.
"Nuala McNulty is so passionate about her home county of Leitrim, that she added a guest annex onto her new state-of-the-art wooden house, overlooking the Ballinabehy Ridge in the Leitrim hills. "That's why I built it. I love to share Leitrim", she said in Ecoescape Ireland, which featured Tawnylust in its top 50 Irish ecoescapes. Hospitality comes top of the list for Nuala who leaves a welcome parcel for her guests, full of local chutneys, jam, herbs, elderflower cordial and fair-trade chocolate. Her second love is the environment, and the house was built with this at the forefront of the design process. It has passive solar heating, solar panels for hot water, low wattage under floor heating, recycled paper insulation, an inbuilt heat recovery system, and electricity from a renewable energy company. Nuala likes to keep things local too, with Leitrim artists' work on the walls and information on local markets and cooperatives. Walking is central to a stay at Tawnylust, and Nuala is the founder of a local hill-walking club, Holey Soles. She also works closely with a local walking guide, Tina Pommer and together they run Leitrim Landscapes walking package holidays. Tina is an expert in Leitrim's archaeology, nature, wild mushrooms as well as foraging. If you want to get to know eco-Leitrim, this is one of its greenest spots, and you will be hosted by one of its best sources of local knowledge. With this combination, you won't fail to fall in love with Leitrim too." Written by: Catherine Mack 
Tawnylust Lodge was awarded the EU Ecolabel in July 2008. This is a voluntary standard for tourism providers. It is a system with a vigorous auditing programme by NSAI Ireland. It involves among other things:
Tawnylust Lodge is one of the few premises in Ireland to have been awarded this standard. At Tawnylust Lodge we are very environmentally aware. We recognize that everything we do has an effect upon the environment. We wish to minimize the adverse environmental impact of our activities and to continuously improve our environmental performance, ensuring the sustainability of our actions. The eco lodge is built to the highest eco-standards; it is a passive house with solar passive heating and very high levels of insulation. Water is heated by solar panels. The unit is wooden so minimum amount of concrete is used, to reduce environmental impact. A heat recovery system is in place to ensure guest comfort. Electricity is from a renewable source. Guests are encouraged to separate waste for composting and recycling. Ecover cleaning products and microfibre cloths are used in the premises. All electrical appliances and bulbs at our Tawnylust Lodge are ‘A’ rated, sensor lights are used outside. Showers, toilets and taps are water saving design, in addition, water is on a pressurized system where water volume is low but pressure is high. Guests are provided with bins in each room to ensure ease of segregation of waste for recycling and composting.  | |||||||||||||
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