Brandon Donnelly — Daily insights for city builders. Published since 2013 by Toronto-based real estate developer Brandon Donnelly. — Page 825

I very much enjoyed Ben Horowitz's last book called, The Hard Thing About Hard Things . In fact, five years later, I still find myself going back to it in my mind, particularly the bits about high quality decision making .

So I am looking forward to his latest book about how to create and sustain the kind of business culture that you want. It's called, What You Do Is Who You Are , and that should give you a sense of where this is going.

Here's an excerpt from Ben:

Because your culture is how your company makes decisions when you’re not there. It’s the set of assumptions your employees use to resolve the problems they face every day.

It’s how they behave when no one is looking. If you don’t methodically set your culture, then two-thirds of it will end up being accidental and the rest will be a mistake.

Your culture is who you are. Who you are is not the values you list on the wall. It’s not what you say at an all-hands. It’s not your marketing campaign. It’s not even what you believe.

It’s what you do. What you do is who you are. My new book aims to help you do the things you need to do so you can be who you want to be.

If you'd like to pre-order a copy, you can do that here . 100% of the proceeds will go to anti-recidivism and to Haiti.

This morning the New York Times published what they are calling the most detailed map of auto emissions in America . In it, they remind us that transportation is the largest source of greenhouse gases in the US today and that most of it comes from our driving habits within metro areas. See below charts.

Not surprisingly, if you look at total on-road emissions, the biggest cities -- New York and Los Angeles -- are at the top of the list. But you also have car-dependant regions like Dallas-Fort Worth that punch above their (population) weight in terms of total emissions.

Now, here's where it gets interesting. The story flips as soon as you adjust for population.

On a per capita basis, New York is pretty much at the bottom of the list. It is yet another reminder that one of the most sustainable ways to live is in a dense urban environment where it is possible to get around without the use of a car. New York is, of course , one of the best places in the US to do exactly that.

Charts: New York Times

Phoenix is the 5th largest city in the United States . It has a city proper population of about 1.6 million people and a metro area population of close to 5 million. It is also one of the fastest growing cities in the US .

But being the desert city that it is, its population consumes more water than its natural aquifers can support. Which is why there is something called the Central Arizona Project (CAP).

Approved in 1968, the CAP diverts water from the Colorado River into the state of Arizona. The system is 336 miles (or 541 km) and it runs from Lake Havasu to Tucson, via Phoenix.

Here is an aerial image of the canal from Wikipedia Commons :

And here is a system map from CAP :

Today, it is the single largest water source (and consumer of power) in Arizona, serving about 80% of the state's population. This obviously makes it invaluable. It delivers on average about 1.5 million acre-feet of water per year . (Acre-foot = Acre of area x one foot in depth.)

I was reading about this project today and I found it fascinating. Maybe some of you will too.