h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

Oh yes, yes, yes, thanks!!!

I don't believe in using the coffee bean for making coffee, though... I do not chose to celebrate such cruelty!!!

Moi aussi. In my case(or flight bag in this modern age) I'm allergic even to the smell of coffee (except perhaps when its still on the bush and its such pretty colours). I try to remember to pray for the pulses I boil, fry or make into houmous!

Reverence for the bean is most important... I think beans are slowly conquering the world... there's a coffee bar at the store where I work now...

I'd have to wear a gas mask to go near the coffee shop, even the smell gives me migraine. I had one hell of a time when i was in Texas, many years ago.
Yes indeed the beans should inherit the earth. A far more efficient way of getting protein for you humans than cows, and they cause a lot less Global warming,even less when they solve the flatulence problem!

Beans are fun. I like bean sprouts. YUM!!!

Ah I remember those halcyon days when I was but a beansprout. And you eat them?
Try sprouting some coriander seeds instead . Or don't you grow your own?

....no....

Very easy( to grow bean sprouts) Get some sprouting beans( beans for sprouting that is) Wash thoroughly ( the beans that is), take your electric drill and insert the finest bit( try to stop the more nervous beans from running away at this point) find a clean empty jam jar ( wash it out if you have to lick it out first). Drill masses of tiny holes in the jam jar lid.Insert beans in jam jar . Wash them by filling jam jar 3 quarters full of water, put lid on tight.Invert ( the jam jar that is)and shake thoroughly ( ...no, you should have got it by now) whilst the water drains out.
Do this three times a day. The beans don't need to be in daylight but do do better if the temperature is one you find comfortable.
The only difficult bits are:-
Not losing all the beans when the lid comes off when you're shaking the jam jar;
Getting rid of the husks and recognising which beans aren't going to sprout and getting rid of them( otherwise they pong a bit after a few days and can put the other beans off).

That's an awful lot of work, isn't it!??

You only have to drill the jam jar once, The beans do most of the work after that and you can be sure you won't get salmonella or anything from the beansprouts.
Besides which they taste better!

But... do I have to then pay the beans for their hard labor!??

If I have to change the water everyday, I think I'll forget...

Yes,the beans expect to be rewarded by being eaten (remember the cow in the Restaurant at the end of the Universe? It put up some thought provoking arguments for us vegetarians y'know).
If you forget to wash the beans 3 times a day they smell at you very agresssively.But as you come from America, land of the Kwik Mart and home of the unneccessary packaging....

Ewww.... stinky!!!

I'm very upset about our excessive everything, not only the packaging...

So am I!
If I said I try to shop at Bag'n'Save would you understand the concept? (I never found any in Texas).
In an ideal world I'd be self sustaining, but it's difficult to develop Permaculture on a 19th floor balcony .(Flicks thru' mental image of dog eared Whole Earth Catalogue...)

A Bag and Save is where you bring your own bags for reuse in a grocery store?!??

I always try to reuse my bags... and, yesterday at Barnes and Noble, in fact, I told the lady I didn't want a bag. I do that a lot!!!

No, a Bag 'n'Save is where the food is displayed in bins and you put what you need in a small plastic bag yourself, so the packaging is keep to a minimum.
I'm always refusing bags. I always carry a rucksack, have recycled bags for food/other items that might taint my other purchases(which , of course, I keep to a minimum).
In Africa they use plastic bags as rainhats in the Wet season, and make shoes out of old tyres. What they don't recycle the vultures
( Africa's refuse collectors), and the hyenas do.
Hope I don't sound too righteous, but the Developed world has a lot to answer for

YEP!!! We are very consumerist, and we want only the best. Shoes made from old tires aren't good enough for us. Bleh. I would love to have recycled shoes!!! YAY!!!

My shoes are recycled. They came from Oxfam (charity shop).
Come to think of it so did most of what I'm wearing!
But not my ear rings!
Some of the recycled clothes have (deep shameful intake of breath) designer labels!
Am I ecologically unsound?
I most look at my morals - I like silk shirts and jumpers, but don't like the way they get silk so I buy them only from charity shops.
ASk and I'll tell you how Tibetans eat meat in spite of being buddhist....

::asks::

All the butchers in Tibet are Mongolian!
Personally, I think that's a bit of a cop out, but I believe that we are are all hypocrites to a greater or lesser extent;( unless we're Jains and live on air). I wear leather shoes and silk tho' I'm a Vegan.
I don't believe a holier thatn thou atttitude gains you any karma.