Texans will wait hours in the heat for a perfect slice of brisket. They’ll pay top dollar for a steakhouse where they can pick their own cut. Even city slickers in Houston understand meat’s importance to the Lone Star state, and not just because beef and cattle contribute an average of $8.7 billion to the state’s gross domestic product. So the reaction was predictable when WeWork — the New York City-based coworking company with nine Texas facilities that provide workspace to nearly 8,000 Texas members — announced it will no longer serve beef, pork or chicken at work events as part of an effort to be more environmentally conscious. WeWork will not buy meat dishes for its members, and it will not let employees expense meals containing meat. “No beef in Texas? Really? You’ve got to be kidding me!” Agriculture Commissioner Sid Miller said in an email to the Chronicle. “I was very surprised and disappointed to learn of WeWork’s anti-beef policy, but probably not as disappointed as their employees were.” WeWork, which just last year was the title sponsor of Houston’s Southern Smoke barbecue festival, expects that its change of heart will save 16.7 billion gallons of water, 445.1 million pounds of CO2 emissions, and more than 15 million animals by 2023. The company linked to research from the Science journal, as reported by the Guardian, saying that meat and dairy provide 18 percent of calories and 37 percent of protein while using 83 percent of farmland and producing 60 percent of agriculture’s greenhouse gas emissions. “We are energized by this opportunity to leave a better world for future generations and appreciate your partnership as we continue the journey,” co-founder and chief creative officer Miguel McKelvey said in a letter to employees. Producers are pushing back. Richard Wortham, executive vice president of the Texas Beef Council, cited an Environmental Protection Agency report that found agriculture caused just 9 percent of U.S. greenhouse gas emissions. Animal agriculture created about 4 percent and the beef industry, specifically, generated about 2 percent. For comparison’s sake, transportation and electricity each generated 28 percent of the country’s greenhouse gas emissions. WeWork would “probably be better off encouraging their employees to use less energy at the office or take public transportation,” Wortham said. Texas is the nation’s No. 1 beef cow producer with 4.59 million cows as of Jan. 1. The state proudly helps sate a U.S. appetite that in 2017 averaged 56.9 pounds of beef per person. The demand is international, too, as other countries increase their wealth and want more protein-rich diets. To partisans, choosing tofu smacks of first-world privilege. “That is almost like, ‘We’re too good for that. We’re too good to eat meat,’” said David Anderson, professor and agriculture economist at Texas A&M University, who joked that WeWork employees should get one bill for their burger and another for their side salad that they can then expense. Miller called WeWork’s rationale “a bunch of bull,” but said he supports the company’s right to make that decision. “The only real winners here are beef cows,” he said. “Instead of reducing their carbon footprint, all WeWork is going to do is increase the number of hoofprints.” Coleman Locke, who raises Brahman cattle as president of J.D. Hudgins Inc. in Wharton County, said some people go to “great extremes” to find reasons to not eat beef. “It offends me because I contribute to the economy and I pay taxes,” he said, “and I raise a product that I know is safe and wholesome. I feed it to my family.” WeWork’s international employees and members, roughly 6,000 and 253,000, respectively, will still be able to pack meat in their lunches or grab fast food on their way to work. But its support for a meatless future is part of a larger company goal to promote sustainability. WeWork also uses LED lighting and controls that automatically shut off these lights at night. Some of its teams are reducing or eliminating their use of plastics. At the Galleria WeWork location, members had mixed opinions about the new policy. Anna Wang, founder of a nonprofit called Eastern Holistic Wellness, said she is “100 percent supportive.” Wang used to be a vegan and still eats only small portions of meat for the protein. She says WeWork’s stance curbs animal cruelty and benefits the environment. Ruqqayya Maudoodi considers WeWork a forward-thinking company. As a vegetarian, she’s been to work outings at other places that catered barbecue and provided potato salad as the only vegetarian option. “It’s definitely a bold step, especially in Texas,” she said. Bold isn’t the word Christen Springs would choose. As a lifelong Houstonian whose family owns Texas land and cattle, he thinks the move is stupid. “If you want to do that stuff,” he said, “keep it in San Francisco where it belongs.” andrea.leinfelder@chron.com twitter.com/andrearumbaugh
WeWork has received push back on its new no meat policy from a number of groups, most recently Texans. The Texas Restaurant Association (TRA), which represents more than 100 restaurants in the state, said it was “disappointed” by the decision to ban meat-free options at some locations. Wortham, citing an Environmental Protection Agency report, said that beef was responsible for 2% of US greenhouse gas emissions, while transportation and electricity each generated 28% of the country’s greenhouse gas and suggested WeWork might be better off encouraging employees to use less energy at the office or use public transport.