Flax is such an amazing little plant it's used to make linseed oil which is a natural wood preserver flax seeds flax oil which are really high in omega-3s come from this plant as well as the natural fiber linen all from this useful little plant we're at a farm in Chester County Pennsylvania where four acres are devoted to growing flax and it's ready to be harvested it's part of a pilot project supported by the USDA flax was actually a very important crop in Pennsylvania in colonial times today a group of people are working to bring it back it doesn't need fertilizer it doesn't need irrigation so just with some sun and the humidity and rain it grows really well meaning that it lends itself well to organic fiber production and it can be processed from field to fiber 100% mechanically using no chemicals at all because it's 100% plant-based natural fiber that automatically makes it better than a synthetic because it can be part of a regenerative agricultural cycle as opposed to an extractive system like drilling for oil which is what synthetic fibers are made out of they're oil based so when thinking about our clothes our wardrobe what's your advice for anyone wanting to cut their carbon footprint I'd say choose natural fibers and I would say choose linen it's a fabric that lasts a very long time it's durable and at the end of its long useful life it can be turned into a rag and once it becomes threadbare you can actually compost it and it will simply go back to the soil because it's 100% plant based we've got a long way to go before natural fibers like flax dominate our wardrobe but the PA Flax Project wants to put 12,000 acres of flax into production as a way to create a more sustainable clothing industry