Sustainability policy and practice: Is Nature an appropriate mentor?

Growing concern relating to the damage done to the Earth system by human activity has led to a proliferation of thinking in terms of ameliorating this impact. Many schools of thought, focused on economic, social and environmental sustainability, have adopted Nature as a mentor, claiming that by mimicking its forms, processes and ways of being, we can learn to live in such a way as to restore functionality to the planet while maintaining a vibrant economy. But how appropriate is it to consider Nature as a mentor? We examine three significant flaws in this approach: erroneous ecological knowledge, industry-ecology incompatibilities and the justification of Nature as a mentor. Given that most of these problems apply to almost all of the current schools of sustainability, we conclude by considering what threats to progress these flaws present, and how we can circumnavigate such difficulties.