It's official: Portland is the most sustainable city in the country. Last year, the San Francisco market-research company SustainLane put the Rose City atop its annual U.S. City Sustainability Ranking. "Portland's commitment to creating a healthy, sustainable city runs so deep," SustainLane wrote, "it's no wonder other cities look to it for leadership and inspiration."

Go, Stumptown! Back-pats all around! We'll take our "Greener Than Thou" T-shirt in an extra-large.

Except, well, what does it mean?

Amy Stork, spokeswoman for Portland's Office of Sustainable Development, reels off the standard definition of sustainability: "Providing for the needs of today without compromising the resources available to future generations."

This sunny have-your-cake-and-feed-it-too explanation reveals the slipperiness of sustainability. At its best, it's a light at the end of a very dark tunnel, pointing us toward a future in which we don't need oxygen masks, our kids don't need sunscreen implants and polar bears don't need snorkels. But the term can also be a meaningless, feel-good gesture, a shiny green star awarded for any activity that veers even slightly from the path of heedless consumption many of us have assumed as our birthright.

In celebration of the April 22 enviro-surge known as Earth Day, we put together a package of stories on a range of fresh ideas—whether new or recycled—that Portlanders are bringing to the push for a green tomorrow. Our writers take a look at organic menus, a local chef's take on sustainable food, recycled art, eco-friendly wedding dresses, green sex toys, earthen floors and, finally, sustainable burials. There's a chart examining how Portland's greenness compares with other cities', as well as a roundup of Earth Day events. Plus, to show we're doing our part to save trees, we have two more stories—one on a green hardware maker, the other on a hardcore bike commuter—available only on wweek.com.

These stories represent just a small sampling of the ways Portlanders are living and working a little greener. That's the bright side: Even for those of you who aren't quite ready to become, in satirist Stephen Colbert's words, "reduce-reuse-repsychos," there's still something you can do. And even in a thousand points of light green, we can discern a sustainable future.

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For more on Portland's Office of Sustainable Development, go to www.portlandonline.com/osd.

For SustainLane's paean to Portland, go to www.sustainlane.us/city_study_1Portland.jsp.

To plan TriMet routes to Earth Day events, go to www.trimet.org/promotions/earthmonth.htm.