For the past eight issues of Edible Wasatch magazine I have written a series of essays derived from my book Gardening: An Ecological Approach.
These short pieces discuss, one-by-one, key ecological concepts and principles that make up the rule book for living on Earth. Of course, they are most applicable in wild places, and they are least well-applied in intensively occupied urban areas (at least as we usually occupy them). A backyard garden, however, in town or in the country, still expresses the principles and still promotes the processes (e.g. energy flow, material cycling, soil formation, carbon sequestration, etc.) that make life possible.
You may read the following via the "online editions" page at Edible Wasatch.
"Backyard Biodiversity" Fall 2012 pp. 56-57
"There Are Limits" Summer 2012 pp. 56-57
"Global Conservation, Backyard-Style" Spring 2012 pp. 50-51
"The Intimacy of Global Nutrient Cycles" Winter 2011-2012 pp. 44-45
"Solar-Powered People" Fall 2011 pp. 44-45
"Soil Matters" Summer 2011 pp. 44-45
"Ecologically Competent People" Spring 2011 pp. 44-46
"Diversity and Sustainbility" Winter 2010-2011 p. 28