Two Homes

Sarah Rhodes

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Society & Culture
Weekly

Two Homes, the podcast where we explore the relationship between our inner world and the planet we live on. Because sustainability that isn’t embodied doesn’t last - and wellbeing that stays surface-level doesn’t change anything. This podcast is an invitation to look deeper. To understand how our nervous systems, beliefs, and patterns shape the systems we’re trying to reform - and how real change starts closer to home than we think.

6d ago

30. Getting Buy-In from the Inside with Sydney Festival and Boomerang Labs

This episode is something a little different. What you're about to hear is a recording of a live webinar hosted by Boomerang Labs Australia, featuring a real-world case study of how sustainability gets embedded inside an organisation. Sarah worked with Sydney Festival for around 14 months in 2023 and 2024, and this webinar brought her back together with Rosa Coyle-Hayward from the Sydney Festival sustainability working group to look at what's still in motion two years on. What seeds took root. What the working group has built. She shared what it actually takes, without glamorising it, to turn a sustainability action plan from a document into a living practice. From the reticular activating system and why people don't engage with sustainability initiatives, to the mini green spotlight, cross-departmental working groups, the psychology of free things, and why sometimes the best strategy is to ease something in slowly rather than push it through fast, this is sustainability leadership from the inside out. Exactly what Two Homes is about. Two Homes is for leaders who know that lasting performance, for people and planet, starts from the inside out. Two homes: the one we inhabit within, and the one we all share. Intro and outro music: Brooks, Kai Engel If you'd like to ask a question: 💌 Email - connect@plasticfreesea.co 🎙️ Drop a question in the comment box on Spotify Sign up to emails to get insights, event invitations and opportunities to connect and be inspired to integrate sustainability for good 🌟 https://sarah-rhodes.myflodesk.com/news Two Homes is part of my business, Plastic Free Southeast Asia — an Australia Pacific specialist sustainability leadership consultancy, that is your partner in all authentic and aligned sustainability for tourism businesses and boards. Please rate, subscribe and review to help more people find the meaningful conversations, insights and more guests into the conversation that helps you grow your business, and tend to your wellbeing, sustainably. Follow on your preferred platforms: Instagram https://www.instagram.com/plasticfreeseaa/ Facebook https://www.facebook.com/plasticfreeseaa/ Sarah on LI https://www.linkedin.com/in/sarah-rhodes-67a9b724/ Show Notes: Boomerang Labs Australia — circular economy startup and innovation accelerator: https://www.boomeranglabs.com.au Sydney Festival: https://www.sydneyfestival.org.au End Food Waste Australia: https://www.endfoodwasteaustralia.org Green Music Australia — sustainability resources for festivals and events: https://www.greenmusicaustralia.org Murray Regional Tourism: https://www.murrayregionaltourism.com.au The reticular activating system - referenced in this episode and explored in depth in: Two Homes Episode 21 The RAS: What You Notice Changes Everything The mini green spotlight - five minutes of sustainability in any regular meeting: Referenced in this episode and explored in: Two Homes Episode 15 - What the Best Leaders Are Doing Differently
Oct 20

29. Waste is a Verb

A third of all edible food in Australia is wasted. Sydney’s landfills are projected to be full by 2030. Around 80% of hospitality textiles are replaced before they even need to be. And 30% of all landfill is furniture. These are not small numbers and they’re not just environmental problems. They’re commercial ones. This episode reframes waste not as a noun, the stuff in the bin, but as a verb: the behaviour, the system, the autopilot that keeps producing it. From outdated replacement schedules nobody has questioned in years, to the invisible cost of buying cheap and buying twice, to the practical mechanics of a waste audit and what it surfaces when you finally make the invisible visible. This episode is an invitation to pay attention to one waste stream this week and ask what it’s actually telling you. Because the opportunity on the other side of that question isn’t just less waste, it’s lower costs, more cohesive teams and a guest experience that reflects what you actually stand for. Two Homes is for leaders who know that lasting performance, for people and planet, starts from the inside out. Two homes: the one we inhabit within, and the one we all share. Intro and outro music: Brooks, Kai Engel If you’d like to ask a question: 💌 Email - connect@plasticfreesea.co 🎙️ Drop a question in the comment box on Spotify Sign up to emails to get insights, event invitations and opportunities to connect and be inspired to integrate sustainability for good 🌟 https://sarah-rhodes.myflodesk.com/news Two Homes is part of my business, Plastic Free Southeast Asia — an Australia Pacific specialist sustainability leadership consultancy, that is your partner in all authentic and aligned sustainability for tourism businesses and boards. Please rate, subscribe and review to help more people find the meaningful conversations, insights and more guests into the conversation that helps you grow your business, and tend to your wellbeing, sustainably. Follow on your preferred platforms: Instagram https://www.instagram.com/plasticfreeseaa/ Facebook https://www.facebook.com/plasticfreeseaa/ Sarah on LI https://www.linkedin.com/in/sarah-rhodes-67a9b724/ Show Notes: NABERS Waste Webinar - Tuesday 10 November Join Sarah, Matt from Waste Auditing Experts, NABERS and the Property Council of Australia for a practical deep dive on waste in hospitality. Link to registration: https://events.teams.microsoft.com/event/8dff6b81-4cf5-4658-a966-09012cada1f6@96ef8821-2a39-471c-b89a-67b0833dd3b9?source=copyLinkLegacyShareLinkDialog&mc_cid=833acc4dd1&mc_eid=14aeb316bc End Food Waste Australia - food waste statistics: https://www.endfoodwasteaustralia.org NSW EPA - organic waste separation mandate: https://www.epa.nsw.gov.au/your-environment/waste/food-and-garden-waste ACCC Environmental Claims Guide - on going beyond the eco-friendly label: https://www.accc.gov.au/system/files/Environmental%20claims%20-%20A%20guide%20for%20business.pdf Related Two Homes episodes: Episode 5: Change the Default, Change the Outcome Episode 21: The RAS: What You Notice Changes Everything Episode 25: Symptoms vs Cure
Oct 14

28. What If There Are Actually More Options Available To You?

When someone says “we’ve tried that before” what do they actually mean? Sometimes it’s a closed door. But more often it’s a door that was tried at the wrong time, with the wrong conditions, without enough people in the room, or without the implementation working as well as the concept could. This episode is for two people simultaneously: the one who keeps bringing ideas and keeps hitting resistance, and the one who has tried things and genuinely doesn’t believe there’s another way forward. Because both of them are holding part of the picture. And neither of them has the whole thing. Drawing on Shunryu Suzuki’s beginner’s mind, Adam Grant’s work on thinking again, and a real-world example of a hotel manager approaching the single-use coffee cup problem with curiosity rather than conclusion, this episode explores what becomes possible when we stop asking what we’ve done wrong and start asking what we can’t see yet. It’s not about starting over. It’s about being open to what the next attempt might look like with everything you’ve already learned. Two Homes is for leaders who know that lasting performance, for people and planet, starts from the inside out. Two homes: the one we inhabit within, and the one we all share. Intro and outro music: Brooks, Kai Engel If you’d like to ask a question: 💌 Email - connect@plasticfreesea.co 🎙️ Drop a question in the comment box on Spotify Sign up to emails to get insights, event invitations and opportunities to connect and be inspired to integrate sustainability for good 🌟 https://sarah-rhodes.myflodesk.com/news Two Homes is part of my business, Plastic Free Southeast Asia an Australia Pacific specialist sustainability leadership consultancy, that is your partner in all authentic and aligned sustainability for tourism businesses and boards. Please rate, subscribe and review to help more people find the meaningful conversations, insights and more guests into the conversation that helps you grow your business, and tend to your wellbeing, sustainably. Follow on your preferred platforms: Instagram https://www.instagram.com/plasticfreeseaa/ Facebook https://www.facebook.com/plasticfreeseaa/ Sarah on LI https://www.linkedin.com/in/sarah-rhodes-67a9b724/ Show Notes: Shunryu Suzuki - Zen Mind, Beginner’s Mind: The source of the beginner’s mind concept referenced throughout this episode. https://www.shambhala.com/zen-mind-beginner-s-mind-4.html Adam Grant - Think Again: Referenced in this episode on the psychology of sunk costs and the human resistance to changing direction. https://adamgrant.net/book/think-again/ Referenced Two Homes episodes Episode 21: The RAS: What You Notice Changes Everything The reticular activating system referenced in this episode is explored in depth here. Episode 8: Where to Begin Without Overhauling Everything Companion episode on starting small and building momentum. Episode 18: Duality: Why It’s Not All or Nothing Companion episode on holding complexity rather than defaulting to binary thinking.
Oct 6

27. Is Corporate Giving Landing in the Right Place? - with Weh Yeoh

What does it actually mean to help? And how do we know when the help we're offering is solving a problem versus sustaining one? This episode is a conversation with Weh Yeoh, physiotherapist turned social entrepreneur, founder of OIC Cambodia, co-founder of Umbo, and author of Redundant Charities, about what genuine social impact looks like versus the kind that keeps itself in business by never quite solving anything. Drawing on years of working in Cambodia and China, Weh unpacks the power dynamics underneath voluntourism, why something is not always better than nothing, and what it looks like to build a charity with the explicit goal of making itself redundant. For hospitality and tourism operators thinking about their CSR and community partnerships, this conversation offers a genuinely different framework, one that asks not just whether your intentions are good, but whether what you're doing is actually working. And whether the people it's meant to help are the ones deciding that. Two Homes is for leaders who know that lasting performance, for people and planet, starts from the inside out. Two homes: the one we inhabit within, and the one we all share. Intro and outro music: Brooks, Kai Engel If you'd like to ask a question: 💌 Email - connect@plasticfreesea.co 🎙️ Drop a question in the comment box on Spotify Sign up to emails to get insights, event invitations and opportunities to connect and be inspired to integrate sustainability for good 🌟 https://sarah-rhodes.myflodesk.com/news Two Homes is part of my business, Plastic Free Southeast Asia — an Australia Pacific specialist sustainability leadership consultancy, that is your partner in all authentic and aligned sustainability for tourism businesses and boards. Please rate, subscribe and review to help more people find the meaningful conversations, insights and more guests into the conversation that helps you grow your business, and tend to your wellbeing, sustainably. Follow on your preferred platforms: Instagram https://www.instagram.com/plasticfreeseaa/ Facebook https://www.facebook.com/plasticfreeseaa/ Sarah on LI https://www.linkedin.com/in/sarah-rhodes-67a9b724/ Show Notes: Weh Yeoh: author, social entrepreneur, founder of OIC Cambodia: https://www.wehyeoh.com Redundant Charities by Weh Yeoh: https://www.redundantcharities.com Weh Yeoh on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/wmyeoh/ Umbo: online speech and occupational therapy for rural Australia: https://www.umbo.net.au OIC Cambodia: speech therapy and professional development: https://www.oiccambodia.org Weh's TedX talk: https://youtu.be/9vuAL0qatSw?si=NGimTG16ra5kVADa To Hell With Good Intentions by Ivan Illich, 1968: https://www.uvm.edu/~jashman/CDAE195_ESCI375/To%20Hell%20with%20Good%20Intentions.pdf Recommended reading for anyone working in social impact, development or CSR. Australian Charities and Not-for-profits Commission: https://www.acnc.gov.au Accounting for International Development, skills-based volunteering: https://www.afid.org.uk Related Two Homes episodes: Episode 11: The Social in ESG Episode 25: Looking Beyond Bandaid Solutions Episode 26: Tourism that Stays with you
Sep 29

26. Tourism That Stays With You

Tourism markets paradise. Crystal clear water, swaying palms, pristine white sand, authentic culture. And sometimes that image is real and often there's a gap, which comes with a cost. Not just environmentally, but culturally and economically as well. This episode explores what tourism actually does to the places it depends on when it isn't done with intention. From overtourism and zero dollar tourism to the misuse of local culture when hospitality becomes purely transactional. We also look at when tourism genuinely gives back to the places it loves. Drawing on over two decades of working in the industry across Southeast Asia and Australia, this episode makes the case that the most sustainable tourism businesses aren't the ones with the most certifications or the biggest budgets. They're the ones where the team understands the North Star, where the community around the property benefits from its being there, and where guests feel like they actually went somewhere. Not a simulation of somewhere. The real thing. If there's a gap between what you're selling and what you're delivering this episode is an invitation to close it. Two Homes is for leaders who know that lasting performance, for people and planet, starts from the inside out. Two homes: the one we inhabit within, and the one we all share. Intro and outro music: Brooks, Kai Engel If you'd like to ask a question: 💌 Email - connect@plasticfreesea.co 🎙️ Drop a question in the comment box on Spotify Sign up to emails to get insights, event invitations and opportunities to connect and be inspired to integrate sustainability for good 🌟 https://sarah-rhodes.myflodesk.com/news Two Homes is part of my business, Plastic Free Southeast Asia — an Australia Pacific specialist sustainability leadership consultancy, that is your partner in all authentic and aligned sustainability for tourism businesses and boards. Please rate, subscribe and review to help more people find the meaningful conversations, insights and more guests into the conversation that helps you grow your business, and tend to your wellbeing, sustainably. Follow on your preferred platforms: Instagram https://www.instagram.com/plasticfreeseaa/ Facebook https://www.facebook.com/plasticfreeseaa/ Sarah on LI https://www.linkedin.com/in/sarah-rhodes-67a9b724/ Show Notes: The Last Tourist documentary film: Highly recommended viewing, especially as a team activity. Explores the challenges and possibilities of sustainable tourism with honesty and depth. https://www.thelasttourist.com G Adventures - sustainable tourism operator: https://www.gadventures.com/about-us/our-impact/ Lio Beach, El Nido, Palawan — zero single use plastic tourism community: https://ir.ayalaland.com.ph/news-and-updates/lio-beach-a-model-of-inclusive-growth-in-tourism/ Bhutan sustainable tourism model: https://www.tourism.gov.bt Angkor temples dress code and cultural guidelines: https://www.angkorwat.org/visitor-information/ Related Two Homes episodes: Episode 23 - The Sustainable Traveller Episode 11 - The Social in ESG Episode 9 - What Integration Actually Looks Like
Sep 22

25. Looking Beyond Bandaid Solutions to Make Change that Counts

We're very good at treating pain. Not so good at asking what's causing it. This episode looks at one of the most persistent and costly patterns in hospitality and tourism, the default to short-term fixes that relieve the immediate discomfort without touching the root cause. Staff turnover that's treated as a recruitment problem, greenwashing treated as a marketing problem, certification treated as a compliance exercise and single-use plastic swaps that change the material but not the behaviour. Each of these is a symptom, a bandaid solution. Each has a cause that goes untouched and for the most part unnoticed. Every time we reach for the quick fix, we make it a little harder to get to what's actually going on and a little more expensive to keep ignoring it. Drawing on the neuroscience of short-termism, the $36.6 billion annual cost of food waste in Australia, and the evidence of what happens when teams are actively involved, this episode makes the case that treating the root cause isn't harder than treating the symptom. It's just less immediately comfortable. And this is our biggest opportunity right now.. Two Homes is for leaders who know that lasting performance, for people and planet, starts from the inside out. Two homes: the one we inhabit within, and the one we all share. Intro and outro music: Brooks, Kai Engel If you'd like to ask a question: 💌 Email - connect@plasticfreesea.co 🎙️ Drop a question in the comment box on Spotify Sign up to emails to get insights, event invitations and opportunities to connect and be inspired to integrate sustainability for good 🌟 https://sarah-rhodes.myflodesk.com/news Two Homes is part of my business, Plastic Free Southeast Asia an Australia Pacific specialist sustainability leadership consultancy, that is your partner in all authentic and aligned sustainability for tourism businesses and boards. Please rate, subscribe and review to help more people find the meaningful conversations, insights and more guests into the conversation that helps you grow your business, and tend to your wellbeing, sustainably. Follow on your preferred platforms: Instagram https://www.instagram.com/plasticfreeseaa/ Facebook https://www.facebook.com/plasticfreeseaa/ Sarah on LI https://www.linkedin.com/in/sarah-rhodes-67a9b724/ Reference Notes: Your Future Self, Hal Hershfield The book referenced at the opening on short-termism and our relationship with immediacy: https://www.halhershfield.com/your-future-self ACCC Environmental Claims Guide for Business: Referenced in the greenwashing section: https://www.accc.gov.au/system/files/Environmental%20claims%20-%20A%20guide%20for%20business.pdf End Food Waste Australia, $36.6 billion food waste cost: https://www.endfoodwasteaustralia.org Plastic Free July Foundation, coffee cup statistics: https://www.plasticfreejuly.org Other episodes referenced in this episode: Two Homes Episode 6, The Certification Trap Two Homes Episode 14, The Greenwash Dilemma Two Homes Episode 22, Kindness is The Way with Sophie Bretag, Metta Leaders
Sep 15

24. The Sustainable Conference

We talk about sustainability at conferences. We put it on the agenda. We feature it in the program notes. And then we hand everyone a single-use coffee cup, fill the goodie bag with things nobody asked for and call it a day. This episode is an honest look at the gap between what hospitality and tourism conferences say about sustainability and what they actually do and what organisers and attendees can do differently. From starting the venue conversation early and rethinking the coffee station, to the psychology of free things, food waste that's costing Australia $36.6 billion a year, and why putting sustainability in its own session means most GMs will choose the revenue panel instead. This episode also covers the attendee side so that you can show up at a conference without running yourself into the ground, why protecting your energy is a sustainability practice, and why the friend who turned up late every morning taught me something many years later. Two Homes is for leaders who know that lasting performance, for people and planet, starts from the inside out. Two homes: the one we inhabit within, and the one we all share. Intro and outro music: Brooks, Kai Engel If you'd like to ask a question: 💌 Email - connect@plasticfreesea.co 🎙️ Drop a question in the comment box on Spotify Sign up to emails to get insights, event invitations and opportunities to connect and be inspired to integrate sustainability for good 🌟 https://sarah-rhodes.myflodesk.com/news Two Homes is part of my business, Plastic Free Southeast Asia an Australia Pacific specialist sustainability leadership consultancy, that is your partner in all authentic and aligned sustainability for tourism businesses and boards. Please rate, subscribe and review to help more people find the meaningful conversations, insights and more guests into the conversation that helps you grow your business, and tend to your wellbeing, sustainably. Follow on your preferred platforms: Instagram https://www.instagram.com/plasticfreeseaa/ Facebook https://www.facebook.com/plasticfreeseaa/ Sarah on LI https://www.linkedin.com/in/sarah-rhodes-67a9b724/ Show Notes: Food waste in Australia: Food waste costs Australia approximately $36.6 billion per year and is responsible for around 3% of Australia's greenhouse gas emissions. Around 16% of food waste comes from the hospitality sector. Source: End Food Waste Australia https://www.endfoodwasteaustralia.org Carbon emissions baseline assessment for events: The GHG Protocol provides methodology for calculating event emissions: https://ghgprotocol.org Reusable cup programs for events and venues: Cup lending and washing systems are increasingly available for events search for reusable cup schemes in your city as local operators vary by region. No Vacancy Expo Sydney 23 and 24 September 2026: https://novacancyexpo.com.au No Vacancy Bangkok 24 and 25 November 2026: https://novacancyexpo.com Related Two Homes episodes: Episode 5 - Change the Default, Change the Outcome Episode 14 - The Greenwash Dilemma Episode 23 - The Sustainable Traveller
Sep 8

23. The Sustainable Travellers Guide

If you're here listening to a podcast about sustainable tourism, chances are you also love to travel. This episode is about how traveling more mindfully, more intentionally and more sustainably almost always produces a better trip. Referencing my time of living and working in Southeast Asia and doing responsible travel training with volunteers and visitors in Cambodia, as well as some of the questions that come up each time I do a workshop on this topic. This episode explores what sustainable travel actually means in practice. From choosing direct flights and staying longer, to finding sustainable accommodation beyond the badge and the vague website copy, to navigating plastic in countries where tap water isn't safe, to the child safe tourism question and the voluntourism conversation. My practical, honest and personal guide to traveling in a way that does more good and less harm. Including the one destination that won't be on the itinerary: Antarctica. Two Homes is for leaders who know that lasting performance, for people and planet, starts from the inside out. Two homes: the one we inhabit within, and the one we all share. Intro and outro music: Brooks, Kai Engel If you'd like to ask a question: 💌 Email - connect@plasticfreesea.co 🎙️ Drop a question in the comment box on Spotify Sign up to emails to get insights, event invitations and opportunities to connect and be inspired to integrate sustainability for good 🌟 https://sarah-rhodes.myflodesk.com/news Two Homes is part of my business, Plastic Free Southeast Asia, an Australia Pacific specialist sustainability leadership consultancy, that is your partner in all authentic and aligned sustainability for tourism businesses and boards. Please rate, subscribe and review to help more people find the meaningful conversations, insights and more guests into the conversation that helps you grow your business, and tend to your wellbeing, sustainably. Follow on your preferred platforms: Instagram https://www.instagram.com/plasticfreeseaa/ Facebook https://www.facebook.com/plasticfreeseaa/ Sarah on LI https://www.linkedin.com/in/sarah-rhodes-67a9b724/ Show Notes: Child safe tourism certification: https://www.thecode.org — The Code for the Protection of Children from Sexual Exploitation in Travel and Tourism ChildSafe Movement: https://childsafe.humanitariangroup.org Carbon offset verification — Gold Standard: https://www.goldstandard.org GSTC Hotel Certification: https://www.gstcouncil.org/gstc-criteria/gstc-hotel-criteria/ Water filter bottles for travel — options worth researching: LifeStraw, LARQ, Waters Co Two Homes Episode 12 - Sense and Sensitivity: Fragrance in Hospitality with Alexx Stuart Referenced in this episode re synthetic fragrances in hotel amenities Blog posts on child safe tourism and responsible giving: https://www.siemreap.net/guides/travel/why-you-shouldnt-give-money-to-begging-children/

Two Homes, the podcast where we explore the relationship between our inner world and the planet we live on. Because sustainability that isn’t embodied doesn’t last - and wellbeing that stays surface-level doesn’t change anything. This podcast is an invitation to look deeper. To understand how our nervous systems, beliefs, and patterns shape the systems we’re trying to reform - and how real change starts closer to home than we think.

Creator

Sarah Rhodes
Years Active

2026
Episodes

30
Rating

Clean
Copyright

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Two Homes