EARTHRISE, the photograph Apollo 8 astronaut William Anders took while orbiting the moon on December 24, 1968, is kick-starting the modern environmental movement.

Showing the Earth rise from the blackness of space, the image was testament to the lonely fragility of our planetary home.

Fifty years later, on Christmas Eve 2018, Anders wrote an article for astronomy website space.com reflecting how “we had set out to explore the moon and instead discovered the Earth”.

Months later, Apollo 11’s Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin walked on the lunar surface and the 50th anniversary of that mission is the key theme of this year’s Edinburgh Science Festival.

A major highlight is an exhibition of images at the Scottish Parliament which, echoing Anders’ iconic photograph, uses perspectives out-with everyday experience to consider the impact of humanity on the planet.

The collection, presented in partnership with ocean conservation organisation Oceana, is intended to provoke discussion on how we might move forward with a gentler, more “human touch”.

Many of the 36 large-scale images featured are aerial shots taken from aircraft, drones and high vantage points.

They show the effects of human activity, from deforestation and the fast-retreating ice of the Arctic to how the hunger for resources is transforming the landscape around us. Some, like those of Carlos Minguell, are taken from the depths of the sea, showing animals caught in fishing lines and tyres strewn on the ocean bed.

One, Kara Murphy’s image of a potash mine in Utah, looks like a surrealist painting or advanced Martian technology.

“I didn’t believe it was a real thing until I did some research into the potash mine,” says Lauren Hockenhull, co-curator of A Human Touch with Science Festival colleagues Emily Raemaekers and Eilidh Dunnet.

“It’s the contrast between the bright blues of the evaporation pools and the orangey reds of the desert,” she adds.

“I didn’t realise you could get that bright blue out in the wild. It was a very striking image for us.”

Some depict alarming scenes but have a surprisingly positive story behind them. In one image, a huge SOS has been carved into a forest in Indonesia by Lithuanian artist Ernest Zacharevic to highlight how habitats have been aggressively cleared to make way for oil palm plantations.

As an explanatory note says next to the image, it is intended that the 50-hectare area will be cleared for reforestation with tens of thousands of native seedlings.

Another image which already has inspired positive change is Minguell’s photograph of tyres on the sea bed near Malta.

“The government said they would clean up all the tyres, and they made a real effort to do so,” says Hockenhull.

There are people working hard across the planet to right the wrongs we’ve done to it, she says, and it was a priority for her team to include work showing some of the efforts being made.

“I think people get a bit climate-fatigued,” Hockenhull says. “They can get sick to death about hearing about climate change, about all the plastic in the oceans.

“I think it’s important to keep reminding ourselves though. Not to bring everyone down, but to become a bit more conscious of how we are behaving, and what you can do in your everyday life to reduce this throwaway culture and being mindful of things they use come from.

“Weariness sets in when we feel our actions don’t count. But it’s only by realising that palm oil is in around half of the products and food we consume that we can begin to make choices about our behaviour.”

Each image featured in A Human Touch is accompanied by a panel offering context and what harm-reducing actions can be taken.

Some images show more positive human developments such as the Crescent Dunes solar energy project in Nevada and wind farms out in the Irish sea.

The latter image was taken by Jenny Beatty, a pilot who takes photographs from the cockpit.

Like an increasing number of photographers, Aaron Sneddon uses drone technology for some of his images.

His striking Winter In The Scottish Highlands is an aerial view of cows bred for meat, a practise which uses disproportionate amounts of water and agricultural land, as well as contributing to greenhouse gas emissions.

Sneddon says he spotted the opportunity while driving his children to school one morning.

“When you are a photographer, you’re always looking for your food, you’re a hunter really,” he says. “You’re looking for a situation in a composition always. That’s the mindset. So I always carry my camera and a drone in the car, even when I’m not working.”

He continues: “I thought the cows would look interesting, a completely different shape and configuration to what we were seeing from the ground. The kids got into school late that day, at 9.15am. The teacher wasn’t very happy. I took it home and showed my wife and asked her what she thought it was. When she said ‘fish’ I thought: ‘good’.”

Sneddon says he notices how the landscape is changing during his regular travels between the highlands to Germany for work.

“Being an aerial photographer makes you aware of the topography and layout of the land,” he says. “When I’m in Germany I don’t see many changes happening, as they tend to have smaller developments, it’s lovely. In the Highlands we are seeing a lot of changes as more people are moving here. There are a lot of developments and infrastructure changes. It may be practical, but it’s less scenic.”

Sneddon adds: “Humans shape the crust of the Earth, in whatever way, whether it’s wind turbines, a dam. We shape it to us, not to animals. We put the cows in a field so that they are controlled.”

A Human Touch was the original idea of Amanda Tyndall, director of the Science Festival.

Opening the exhibition, she said: “It’s important for Edinburgh Science to bring thought provoking science-themed content to wide and diverse audiences and partnering with Scottish Parliament and Oceana provides a wonderful opportunity to do just that.

“The photographers featured in this exhibition have travelled far and wide to examine the fragility of Earth’s varied landscapes and to capture beautiful and powerful images that we hope will make audiences take a moment to consider our impacts on our world but take away a sense of hope that things are not beyond repair.”