Urban Plant Life is a programme of events and activities exploring and highlighting our natural heritage in the city and is part of Dublin City Council Arts Office Art and Ecology programme which coincides with National Heritage Week and an exhibition at The LAB Gallery, Supernature by artist Linda Shevlin.

Events are booking out fast, please check http://www.urbanplantlife.eventbrite.ie for availability.

Free film screening of this 1970's environmentally themed science fiction film directed by Douglas Trumball and starring Bruce Dern.

Silent Running is part of Dublin City Council Arts Office Urban Plant Life Programme of events exploring and highlighting nature in the city. It accompanies the current exhibition at The Lab Gallery, Supernature by Linda Shevlin and coincides with National Heritage Week.

As this science fiction classic opens, botanist Freeman Lowell (Bruce Dern) has spent eight years aboard the space freighter “Valley Forge” preserving the only botanical specimens left from Earth under huge geodesic domes. When he receives orders to destroy the project and return home, Lowell rebels and hijacks the freighter, while plunging the craft into the gaseous Rings of Saturn. From that moment on, he has only the trees, the gardens and two “Drone” robots Huey and Dewey to keep him company on his greatest adventure of all.

For further information and bookings see http:/urban plantlife.eventbrite.ie

Andrew Douglas, founder of Urban Farm, has transformed water cooler bottles in to potato planters which he uses to grow a large variety of heritage and heirloom potatoes. He has also created  AQUAlab, an aquaponic system for cultivating plants using fish and water. The system is hooked up to twitter and the fish and plants can somehow tweet when they need to be fed and watered!  Join Andrew to find out more about potato culture and these alternative urban gardening techniques.

"Renewable, sustainable, environmental" are all terms associated with green energy or energy harnessed from naturally renewable resources. Join artist Linda Shevlin to find out how many potatoes it takes to light a lightbulb. Participants will then use their naturally powered LED’s to create an installation.

Join ECO UNESCO on an urban nature trail from The LAB Gallery to Smithfield, exploring nature in the city, wildlife and biodiversity and featuring community gardens and parks. This ECO UNESCO interactive guided walking tour will highlight a number of Dublin city's natural environments. Suitable for all ages.

Join Damn Fine Print at Block T for this specially tailored screen printing workshop. Bring along your own pressed flowers, collected leaves and plant foliage to create stunning screen prints.

There are a number of places still available for this storytelling event on Saturday 23rd August 2 – 2.45 pm at The LAB, Foley Street, Dublin 1. For bookings see http://urbanplantlife.eventbrite.ie  

A scientist recently discovered that trees make music; within them is a frenetic and incessant drum roll, a pulse of life, a heartbeat. Like us humans, trees stand upright, have roots and arms. Trees and people have a special connection, a complicity that this show would like to celebrate. You will hear a selection of folktales about trees from a diversity of cultures. 

There are a few places remaining for this event on Thursday 14^th  August, 3pm, The Red Stables, St. Anne’s Park, Mount Prospect Avenue, Dublin 3. For bookings see http://urbanplantlife.eventbrite.ie

We have been using plants as medicine for millennia. True holistic healing with plants involves all the senses, smell, touch, sight, taste and even sound. This talk will look at traditional approaches to herbal medicine and how each one of us interacts with plants on a multi-sensory level. We will discuss how the interpretation of both subjective and universal patterns and symbology have been and can be used to glean the medicinal qualities of a plant. DCC Parks and Landscape Services have kindly offered us an exclusive opportunity to explore and interact personally with medicinal plants in the newly designed physic garden at St. Anne’s park, prior to its official opening next year.