diff --git a/settings.py b/settings.py
index a8a6d2b1d5ed49628fd9baa2d026c536ed87293d..1b0e31d10e90d35a471bf11b0c4d626323856d86 100644
--- a/settings.py
+++ b/settings.py
@@ -194,7 +194,7 @@ EMAIL_HOST = get_from_env('EMAIL_HOST', 'localhost')
 EMAIL_PORT = int(get_from_env('EMAIL_PORT', "2525"))
 EMAIL_HOST_USER = get_from_env('EMAIL_HOST_USER', '')
 EMAIL_HOST_PASSWORD = get_from_env('EMAIL_HOST_PASSWORD', '')
-EMAIL_USE_TLS = False
+EMAIL_USE_TLS = (get_from_env('EMAIL_USE_TLS', '0') == '1')
 
 # set up logging
 import logging