If Coun. Elizabeth Ball has her way, the bright lights of Vancouver’s skyline and streets will become a little bit dimmer.

In an effort to get a grip on the growing problem of worldwide light pollution, Ball wants the city to bring in a strategy for shielding lights, reducing unnecessary glare and switching to more ecologically friendly sources of illumination. That includes encouraging homeowners and private building owners to turn out, shield or direct lights to specific tasks, rather than letting them beam out into the universe.

“We’re trying to come up with a strategy for what we should be doing to reduce our use of light at night. They don’t have to be all lit up at night. They can be taken down a bit, or reduced to a glow,” said Ball.

Ball has support for her proposal from the city’s chief engineer, the director of planning and the International Dark-Sky Association, who say that cities like Vancouver need to literally tone things down a bit.

“We are not saying turn out the lights,” said John Barentine, the program director for the Tuscon-based Dark-Sky Association. “When it comes to public safety, lighting is necessary. We are asking, however, ‘Is this light necessary?’ and if it is not, turn it off or turn it down. In many cases we tend to overlight places.”

Light pollution is a serious problem in much of the developed world, with long-term implications for both human and animal health, Barentine said.

Ball has sponsored a motion going to city council Tuesday asking for public input into a new outdoor lighting strategy. She wants the city to develop policies and eventually a bylaw that limit “light trespass” and help reduce sky glow, the light reflected into the atmosphere.

“I am talking about all light. The lights stuck on the backs of buildings that go directly up into the sky, the floodlights on so many of our buildings downtown that aren’t aimed correctly, and other unnecessary lights,” she said. “I am not talking about taking away the creative use of light or reducing public safety.”

Brian Jackson, Vancouver’s director of planning, said he appreciates Ball’s proposal.

“We welcome the motion because it will be an important strategy that will address several issues. But we will have to look at it in the context of balancing off safety issues because we have to have an acceptable level of light at the ground level, for pedestrians and vehicles,” he said.

The impact of light pollution ranges from wasted energy to the more serious effect of disruption of the circadian rhythms of animals and humans.

“Animals are not equipped to handle light during parts of the night when their biology doesn’t expect it. So we have seen declines in populations of insects and birds, especially in cities,” said Barentine. “We are an animal no different than any other organism, and we also are not evolutionarily adapted to having all this artificial light. It is kind of like putting the body in a permanent state of jet lag. The body is trying to match this diurnal cycle that is governed by sunlight and we keep throwing into the system when it is not expected.”