If what we've learned this week is true (which it's almost certainly not if you do the math) that two Google searches creates about 7 grams of CO2 -- about as much boiling a tea kettle full of water -- Burger King's recent Whopper Sacrifice Facebook app just snuffed out quite a few tea kettles. In case you were'nt familiar with it, the very savvy Facebook marketing ploy had users deleting 10 Facebook friends to earn a free Whopper.

The best part is, not only were friends being sacrificed for a Whopper, but BK made if very clear exactly why you'd been unfriended. Hilarious. Anyhow, Facebook pulled the campaign on the grounds of it being cruel, but the damage had been done: 233,906 friendships had been destroyed in the carnage. When you think about all of the junk that goes along with being Facebook friend, status updates, news feeds, birthdays, etc. -- you end up with quite a bit of useless e-waste. And although carbon emissions created by data have been greatly over exaggerated this week, they do add up to something.

So, there you have it: deleting Facebook friends reduces carbon emissions -- eating a Whopper doesn't. Is it possible to offset your Whopper by deleting online friendships?

[via Gawker]