diff --git a/lib/octopress.rb b/lib/octopress.rb
index 99e607d..903825a 100644
--- a/lib/octopress.rb
+++ b/lib/octopress.rb
@@ -1,7 +1,12 @@
 $:.unshift File.dirname(__FILE__) # For use/testing when no gem is installed
 
-module Octopress
-end
-
 require "octopress/core_ext"
 require "octopress/configuration"
+
+module Octopress
+
+  # Static: Fetches the Octopress environment
+  def self.env
+    ENV["OCTOPRESS_ENV"] || Configuration.read_config("defaults/jekyll.yml")[:env]
+  end
+end