diff --git a/pelican/log.py b/pelican/log.py
index 0f4b795b..ddeeb6d0 100644
--- a/pelican/log.py
+++ b/pelican/log.py
@@ -172,21 +172,31 @@ class LimitLogger(SafeLogger):
 logging.setLoggerClass(LimitLogger)
 
 
-def init(level=None, handler=logging.StreamHandler()):
-
-    logger = logging.getLogger()
-
+def get_formatter():
     if os.isatty(sys.stdout.fileno()) and not sys.platform.startswith('win'):
-        fmt = ANSIFormatter()
+        return ANSIFormatter()
     else:
-        fmt = TextFormatter()
-    handler.setFormatter(fmt)
+        return TextFormatter()
+
+
+def init(level=None, handler=logging.StreamHandler(), name=None):
+
+    logger = logging.getLogger(name)
+
+    handler.setFormatter(get_formatter())
     logger.addHandler(handler)
 
     if level:
         logger.setLevel(level)
 
 
+def log_warnings():
+    import warnings
+    logging.captureWarnings(True)
+    warnings.simplefilter("default", DeprecationWarning)
+    init(logging.DEBUG, name='py.warnings')
+
+
 if __name__ == '__main__':
     init(level=logging.DEBUG)
 
diff --git a/pelican/tests/__init__.py b/pelican/tests/__init__.py
index 32353ea2..4605a02b 100644
--- a/pelican/tests/__init__.py
+++ b/pelican/tests/__init__.py
@@ -1,2 +1,15 @@
 import logging
+import warnings
+
+from pelican.log import log_warnings
+
+# redirect warnings modulole to use logging instead
+log_warnings()
+
+# setup warnings to log DeprecationWarning's and error on
+# warnings in pelican's codebase
+warnings.simplefilter("default", DeprecationWarning)
+warnings.filterwarnings("error", ".*", Warning, "pelican")
+
+# Add a NullHandler to silence warning about no available handlers
 logging.getLogger().addHandler(logging.NullHandler())
diff --git a/pelican/tests/test_testsuite.py b/pelican/tests/test_testsuite.py
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..5dc92bb1
--- /dev/null
+++ b/pelican/tests/test_testsuite.py
@@ -0,0 +1,16 @@
+# -*- coding: utf-8 -*-
+from __future__ import print_function, unicode_literals
+
+import sys
+import warnings
+
+from pelican.tests.support import unittest
+
+
+class TestSuiteTest(unittest.TestCase):
+
+    @unittest.skipIf(sys.version_info[:2] == (3, 3),
+                     "does not throw an exception on python 3.3")
+    def test_error_on_warning(self):
+        with self.assertRaises(UserWarning):
+            warnings.warn('test warning')