diff --git a/doc/misc.rst b/doc/misc.rst
index a30092f62a194c8396e156bffb0e57c2fa80a0f8..467b3d78646d3662b3534adf0850e035ff8582e8 100644
--- a/doc/misc.rst
+++ b/doc/misc.rst
@@ -1,5 +1,8 @@
+Installation and Usage
+======================
+
 Installation
-============
+------------
 
 This command should install :mod:`pytential`::
 
@@ -19,6 +22,22 @@ and say::
 
 In addition, you need to have :mod:`numpy` installed.
 
+Logging
+-------
+
+Logging output for scripts that use :mod:`pytential` may be controlled on a
+per-module basis through the environment variables ``PYTENTIAL_LOG_`` +
+*log_level*. The variable for the desired level should be set to a
+colon-separated list of module names. Example usage::
+
+    PYTENTIAL_LOG_DEBUG=pytential:loopy PYTENTIAL_LOG_INFO=boxtree python test.py
+
+This sets the logging level of :mod:`pytential` and :mod:`loopy` to
+:attr:`logging.DEBUG`, and the logging level of :mod:`boxtree` to
+:attr:`logging.INFO`.
+
+Note: This feature is incompatible with :func:`logging.basicConfig()`.
+
 User-visible Changes
 ====================
 
diff --git a/pytential/__init__.py b/pytential/__init__.py
index 5d8c61fce75f2b9c1fdcdadd6eac2ef2188dcd1a..98e62c7164105a4c8cb0d1225706ad666ce233d1 100644
--- a/pytential/__init__.py
+++ b/pytential/__init__.py
@@ -30,25 +30,25 @@ from pytential.symbolic.execution import bind
 
 from pytools import memoize_on_first_arg
 
-import os
 
-
-PYTENTIAL_LOG_DEBUG = os.environ.get("PYTENTIAL_LOG_DEBUG")
-
-
-if PYTENTIAL_LOG_DEBUG is not None:
+def _set_up_logging_from_environment():
     import logging
+    import os
     from pytential.log import set_up_logging
-    set_up_logging(PYTENTIAL_LOG_DEBUG.split(":"), level=logging.DEBUG)
 
+    for level_name, level in (
+            ("DEBUG", logging.DEBUG),
+            ("INFO", logging.INFO),
+            ("WARNING", logging.WARNING),
+            ("ERROR", logging.ERROR),
+            ("CRITICAL", logging.CRITICAL)):
 
-PYTENTIAL_LOG_INFO = os.environ.get("PYTENTIAL_LOG_INFO")
+        pytential_log_var = os.environ.get("PYTENTIAL_LOG_%s" % level_name)
+        if pytential_log_var is not None:
+            set_up_logging(pytential_log_var.split(":"), level=level)
 
 
-if PYTENTIAL_LOG_INFO is not None:
-    import logging
-    from pytential.log import set_up_logging
-    set_up_logging(PYTENTIAL_LOG_INFO.split(":"), level=logging.INFO)
+_set_up_logging_from_environment()
 
 
 @memoize_on_first_arg