We've probably all seen them: the typed comments from "outsiders" who have stumbled across YouTube WAM videos. Their first question, whether they type it up or not, is surely, "Wait, is this a... fetish, pouring food and slime on people and hitting them with pies?" and their second is often, "Isn't that wrong to waste food on WAM when there are hungry people in the world?" They may also be thinking, "Isn't that harmful to the environment, wasting all that food and plastic sheeting?"

If you're on this site you surely know the answer to the first question, no matter how new you are to the concept of WAM fetishism. On the issue of food waste, anyone interested in pursuing WAM probably has his own stance on the matter. It should be noted that many mainstream "pie in the face" and other charity events like the Ice Bucket Challenge involve the use of otherwise edible food or water, but the money generated for charity far exceeds the cost of the items. Some WAMmers on UMD have been slimed, messed with food or pied, again with the profits from their videos and/or photographs generating far more income for charity or their personal earnings than simply buying the food and donating it outright would. Onward to the environmental issue. As a tree-hugging, environmentalist-type who is also a WAM enthusiast about to make the leap from writing fictional stories to filming this with a like-minded friend, I asked myself if the two worlds can co-exist and after exploring UMD more, I strongly believe they can. So what is an eco-minded WAMmer to do? These are some suggestions culled from the forums and my own imagination. Reduce, re-ooze and recycle, friends!

* If you have an ideal outdoor WAM setup with privacy and a lawn that doesn't need to be kept pristine, the use of plastic sheeting could be eliminated altogether for some types of mess that could be broken up with a hose on the grass afterward.

* Alternately, if you compost, plastic sheeting could be used to catch the mess and drag it to your compost site afterward. Note that it is generally not recommended to compost foods like meat-based gravy that could affect the decomposition process and attract vermin.

* Plastic sheeting, whether used indoors or out, can be hosed off thoroughly, hung to dry and used again.

* If the above sounds onerous or would be impossible for someone living in an apartment/flat, do what you can. Most communities accept clean empty containers for recycling, such as pie plates, plastic bottles, whipped topping containers and sometimes even aerosol cans. Use an available drop-off site if you're concerned about your neighbors wondering why your bin is always full of sweet and savory containers, or just leave them wondering how anyone could have such an affinity for whipped topping!

* It goes without saying that clothing destruction likely isn't your thing, but choose fabrics that are washable and perhaps substances that are less likely to stain. * If you end up with a stained shirt anyway, it may be able to be reused for home workout wear, sleepwear or for messy chores like mowing. Think of it as a souvenir of the great time you had!

* In an ideal world we'd all have a best friend who worked as a grocery stocker and could hook us up with out-of-date and unsaleable food, but peruse the UMD forum and you will see some creative WAMmers who have used items that would otherwise be thrown out (for example, a post-Halloween jack-o'-lantern.)