New Brunswick’s first Enviro Social was held on March 18, 2004, in Saint John New Brunswick. The event was held in the Trinity room of the Delta Brunswick Hotel. This initiative was a collaborative venture between the Atlantic Coastal Action Program (ACAP Saint John) and the New Brunswick Environment Industry Association (NBEIA), and was supported by the National Research Council of Canada, Industry Research Assistance Program (NRC/IRAP).

NBEIA and ACAP co-hosted the informal information exchange session, or ‘Enviro-Social’, following the annual general meeting of the NBEIA. The event gained further credibility and support due to the involvement of Enterprise Saint John, which has a broad reaching network of local business contacts. Representatives from appropriate firms were solicited to participate. Efforts were made to ensure the atmosphere and attendance remained oriented towards those focused on business development and innovation related to environmentally considerate practices. Local media was invited to cover the event to help increase awareness of the initiative.

The people in the photo are (from left to right) Tim Jackson (IRAP/NRC), Nicole LeBlanc-Richard (IRAP/NRC), Carol Tibbitts (NBEIA), Lois Vincent (ESJ), Tim Vickers (ACAP SJ).

Highlights of the Enviro-Social included informative presentations by the Deputy Minister of the New Brunswick Department of Environment and Local Government, Hermel Viennieau, and by Dr. Robert Pojasek, an internationally recognized authority on the elimination of costly waste and processes in industry. With 31 years experience working with a diverse range of industry sectors and governments, he has helped organizations use methods that he has developed to plan and implement programs focused on achieving a goal of zero waste.

The Enviro Social served as a catalyst in facilitating the exchange of knowledge, ideas and participation amongst environmentally oriented SME’s, government agencies, and academia. ACAP SJ believes that participatory functions, such as the ‘Enviro-Social’ will increase cooperative ventures amongst SME’s interested in environmental innovation and technology transfer. This website and contact list will provide an avenue for innovation-based organizations to directly disseminate information on services and programs to those most likely to benefit from such opportunities. In summary, integrating innovation opportunities within Canadian SME’s requires the effective transfer of information on available services and programs. This initiative provided a new approach to ensuring information is effectively disseminated, and spawned future ventures utilizing NBEIA as a province-wide coordinator for Enviro-Socials. Representatives of Atlantic Canadian SME’s dominated the audience with an interest in expanding opportunities pertaining to environmentally considerate initiatives. Over one hundred local SME’s were invited to attend event, and more than forty participated.

Feedback from participants was extremely positive and it is hoped that endeavors such as the Enviro-Social will become a regular occurrence. The organizations felt this was a wonderful opportunity to mingle and network with other groups within the city. The Enviro-Social provided the chance to learn more about environmental technologies and services available to businesses within local areas.

The organizations & their representatives that attended the Enviro-Social are listed below. Whenever possible, their contact information has also been provided through either a phone number or email address.

Photo’s courtesy of Ted Jones, Community Lens
www.communitylens.com