Permaculture Principles – Bill Mollison
Constantine and Ben met in 2013 on Bowen Island whilst taking their PDCs (Permaculture development certificate) and bonding over similar interests around aquaponics, water remediation and the future of food. This is an effort to combine, facilitate and offer expertise in Ecological restoration, permaculture, development, technology and product development.
Constantine Somow – (CTech, PDC) is an electrical engineering technologist who has over the years assumed leadership roles in product & process development, systems integration, QA/RA, compliance engineering management, and has facilitated academic research through a former research assistant position at UBC. His interests over many years include ecological engineering, product design, horticulture and food sustainability, toward which end he has developed an investigational prototype recirculating aquaponic system based upon principles similar to those of an Eco-MachineTM (Ocean Arks International), implemented a scaled-up version in a backyard greenhouse with an in-ground heat exchanger as well as automated rainwater harvesting, built a floating pond “restorer”, and installed the aquaculture portion of a container-based urban modular farm at Project “Alpha” in Vancouver, BC.
Among his studies in ecological design, Constantine has attended workshops presented by Dr. John Todd (Ecological Literacy at Omega Center for Sustainable Living in Rhinebeck, NY, in 2012 and Floating Restorer Design at the Fisherville Mill Canal, Grafton, MA, 2014), and holds a Permaculture Design Certificate from Pacific Permaculture, taught by Jesse Lemieux. He has been a member of Surrey Board of Trade’s Agriculture Team since 2015, where business, government and academia participate in the development, advocacy and improvement of agriculture policy. He is a strategic thinker who enjoys collaborating in multidisciplinary settings and tackling projects head-on, both big and small, which have the potential to solve some of humanity’s most challenging problems.
Ben Newman – (BPE , PDC) is a jack of all trades, his focus is finding and facilitating longterm ecological solutions to our growing environmental challenges, creating intelligent food production systems and exploring human health on all levels. His involvement in the business world, health industry and green- development industry offers him a set of unique perspectives.
Whilst a permaculturist, health educator, farmer and CTO he has acquired a unique and varied skillset enabling him the opportunity to look at solution development from a meta perspective. He believes that considering all the challenges of our current societal models and offering an educated viewpoint looking forward to what is to come is an important part of educating, and facilitating entrepreneurs, inventors, architects, farmers and engineers to create a better world for all of us.