Theodore Goujon, a student at El Dorado Community School, has to be the most articulate 10-year-old out there. While talking to him, you might forget that he's only 10.

"The whole world right now is a plastic ecosystem. There is plastic everywhere — right here in this shop right now, right behind you, everywhere," Theodore said seriously as he gestured around the dining section at Whole Foods Market, pointing out plastic containers holding cheese, soup and sushi. "I just want to reduce the plastic and bring it down to a certain number."

Theodore, along with his father, Hervé Goujon, are spearheading a new program called Just Add Water, a campaign to get the 700 students at El Dorado Community School to start using reusable stainless steel bottles rather than plastic bottles. Theodore, who uses both a stainless steel bottle and lunch box every day, came up with the idea a few months ago after he was put in charge of the recycle bins at the school.

"He realized the one that is supposed to be full of plastic is never filled," said Hervé Goujon. "We found plastic bottles on the playground."

Theodore said this has been going on for a long time.

"For the past few years — ever since I was in kindergarten — I've seen most teachers and some students using plastic bottles and throwing them in the trash instead of the recycling bin," Theodore said. "I said, 'This isn't right and we should do something.' "

So he and his dad researched what happens to plastic bottles that aren't recycled and stumbled across information on the Web about the "garbage patch."

"Whenever we use plastic bottles, it gets put into a landfill in the middle of the Pacific (Ocean) that is twice the size of Texas," Theodore said. So he and his father started talking about how to make children more aware of the problem with plastic.

Their goal is not to simply keep using plastic and recycling, but to curb plastic usage altogether.

"Recycling is not the answer to everything, either," Hervé Goujon explained. "It takes more energy to recycle the plastic. We want to reduce the use of plastic and find alternatives."

Theodore gave a presentation to some teachers and the principal at school on Wednesday. Theodore related a story that his father told him about watching commercials about plastic when he was a boy growing up in France.

"When I was a kid, these commercials came out saying plastic is good and they would show all the medical uses of plastic," Hervé Goujon explained. "So I grew up thinking plastic was good — it was a nice, modern product. My generation is lost in that sense."

Theodore said this is probably the reason so many people continue to use and discard plastic so readily.

"Us kids still have a chance to learn that plastic is bad for the environment," Theodore said, noting that people could consume bisphenol-A, a chemical released in liquids and foods when plastic is heated. Hervé Goujon added that this chemical is the reason that many baby bottles are being recalled in Europe and the United States.

The goal of Just Add Water is to get children to use stainless steel bottles, but Theodore doesn't just want to give away the bottles. He wants his schoolmates to know exactly why they're using them instead of plastic.

Starting next week, teachers at the school will show their classes the Just Add Water PowerPoint presentation and give the children a quiz afterward. If the class scores an 80 percent or better collectively, students will be able to receive the free bottles at the end of the school year. The Goujons are raising money to help pay for the bottles. So far, they have Los Alamos National Bank on board to help purchase the bottles — which will include the Just Add Water logo and the logos of sponsors. Anybody interested in becoming a sponsor can visit www.justaddwaterworld.org to find out more. Donations will be tax deductible, because the project is being run through El Dorado Community School's Parent Teacher Association.

The plan is to eventually expand the program and offer it in different schools across the state.

Theodore doesn't know what he wants to be when he grows up, but he knows that it will definitely have something to do with the environment.

"I think that the environment is very important," Theodore said passionately. "Very important."

Contact Ana Maria Trujillo at 986-3084 or atrujillo@sfnewmexican.com.