Belle is a compassionate, thoughtful and determined volunteer for the youth of her community and well beyond. She holds a PhD and her day job is as an accountant in Dublin, where she lives near the city centre with her partner of many years. At 30 she has traveled a good bit and has even been to Indonesia as part of her efforts with youths; at some point it is her goal to have visited every continent. She likes the efficiency and convenience of technology and seems to use it to aide her work with youths. She and her partner have two automobiles but her 11 tonne a year carbon footprint is primarily due to her purchases.

Now that Belle is a mother her lifestyle has changed dramatically. She still lives and works in Dublin as an accountant but earns more money, working longer hours for a larger firm. Harder work pays for the lifestyle of her young family, but Belle's work-life balance has definitely suffered, and she has less time to indulge in her hobbies and rarely travels. Technology is the key to maintaining her social life, as without the time to go out socialising, Belle has to keep up with family and friends via mobile phone.

At 50, Belle now spends most of her time travelling, between work and her gated community home; her unrewarding job is a constant drain on her health and personal life. Constantly under threat from ongoing redundancies, her career has not moved forwards in 10 years. When younger Belle had many dreams and expectations about the material goods she would attain by this stage in her life, but changing lifestyles mean these are now more expensive, and currently unachievable. Her teenage daughter is easily swayed by ever-increasing desires for expensive material goods, but raised in the 2020s, recycling and reduction of waste is second nature to her; illustrating an ecological generation gap.

After 2030, Belle's health worsened and she struggled to maintain her job to afford her desired lifestyle. After her husband's death she gave up the struggle and retired, now living with her married daughter in the countryside, where life is cheaper and living standards higher. Her daughter and son-in-law live in a hand built home, using solar and wind power for the little energy they need. Water is plentiful and they grow most of their food. They also eat fish and meat swapped with their neighbours. Belle has made good friends here and runs an internet business making and selling paper; she is happy for the first time in a long time.

As a planet, we made it, but Belle did not. Carbon usage became heavily taxed and the proceeds form this were invested in technology. The British Isles invested in wind and tidal power, while other countries invested in solar. A network was established to support areas with fewer resources from which to harvest power. Countries are not all equal and the world still experiences poverty, wars and natural disasters, but no worse than in the year 2000. The locations of these events have moved. For example outbreaks of fighting occur over the energy network which supplies northern Canada with its electricity, but they negotiate using the export of clean water as a form of payment. People are much more nomadic with less ties to the places they live People take a different view of job security and possessions, so moving is easier. Also with the significantly reduced popularity of short holidays people see the world by living in different places for months or a few years at a time. Many children are home educated. The rise in mobile information technology facilitates this and helps parents give good educations. Belle died aged 68 with her family around her. She was truly happy at the end of her life but the years trying to live and work in "old style" tertiary employment in the city lead to ill health. A combination of stress, poor diet and exposure to toxins while commuting shortened her life considerably. For Belle's generation the average life expectancy is 70, compared with 80 for the generation before her and 75 for the generation after her. Belle's generation were the victims of the changing planet. The generation which could not change and adapt to the new carbon free lifestyle.