Pollution of a different kind troubles Vancouver city councillor

WATCH: A Vancouver councillor says it’s time her city follows the lead of other cities and deals with the growing problem of light pollution. Ted Chernecki reports.

Light pollution is a growing issue in cities around the world and one Vancouver city councillor believes it’s her city dealt with it as well.

The NPA’s Elizabeth Ball is calling for Vancouver to join other cities like New York to roll out a strategy to cut down on light pollution.

“We want our light to be going down to where we’re doing a task,” Ball said.

“We’re walking we’re driving, where we need to feel safe. We don’t need it going up to the night sky.”

Along with saving energy, Ball said the measure will reduce glare and cut down on wildlife deaths — especially due to birds hitting buildings.

“We have a number of buildings here in Vancouver that have gone up,” Ball said, “where they have flood lights to show off the architecture but the floodlights aren’t aimed properly.”

According to Ball, lighting designers all over the world are calling for this kind of work to be done.

The city is already in the process of switching over more than 55,000 street lights to more energy efficient LED models.

WATCH: Global News spoke with John Barentine of the International Dark-Sky Association to find out why light pollution is a problem and what other cities are doing to combat it.

~ with files from Ted Chernecki