diff --git a/lib/squash/ruby.rb b/lib/squash/ruby.rb
index 7321f51..f61a39f 100644
--- a/lib/squash/ruby.rb
+++ b/lib/squash/ruby.rb
@@ -44,6 +44,7 @@ module Ruby
         timeout_protection:         proc { |timeout, &block|
                                          timeout_protection(timeout, &block)
                                        },
+        include_env:                true,
     }
     # Types that are serialized directly to JSON, rather than to a hash of
     # object information. Subclasses are not considered members of this array.
@@ -423,7 +424,12 @@ def self.http_options(uri)
     end
 
     def self.configuration(key)
-      (@configuration || CONFIGURATION_DEFAULTS)[key] || CONFIGURATION_DEFAULTS[key]
+      cfg = (@configuration || CONFIGURATION_DEFAULTS)
+      if cfg.key?(key)
+        cfg[key]
+      else
+        CONFIGURATION_DEFAULTS[key]
+      end
     end
 
     def self.ignored?(exception, user_data)
@@ -652,12 +658,15 @@ def self.constantize(class_name)
 
     # @private
     def self.environment_data
-      {
+      data = {
           'pid'       => Process.pid,
           'hostname'  => Socket.gethostname,
-          'env_vars'  => ENV.inject({}) { |hsh, (k, v)| hsh[k.to_s] = valueify(v); hsh },
           'arguments' => ARGV.join(' ')
       }
+      if configuration(:include_env)
+        data['env_vars'] = ENV.inject({}) { |hsh, (k, v)| hsh[k.to_s] = valueify(v); hsh }
+      end
+      data
     end
 
     # @private
diff --git a/spec/squash_ruby_spec.rb b/spec/squash_ruby_spec.rb
index 3fad95f..c560840 100644
--- a/spec/squash_ruby_spec.rb
+++ b/spec/squash_ruby_spec.rb
@@ -425,7 +425,7 @@ def to_s() raise ArgumentError, "oops!"; end
       end
 
       context "[request body]" do
-        before :each do
+        def send_exception
           @exception.send :instance_variable_set, :@custom_ivar, 'foobar'
 
           http = double('Net:HTTP')
@@ -446,6 +446,7 @@ def to_s() raise ArgumentError, "oops!"; end
         end
 
         it "should transmit information about the exception" do
+          send_exception
           expect(@json).to include('class_name')
           expect(@json).to include('message')
           expect(@json).to include('backtraces')
@@ -457,6 +458,7 @@ def to_s() raise ArgumentError, "oops!"; end
         end
 
         it "should properly tokenize and normalize backtraces" do
+          send_exception
           bt         = @exception.backtrace.reject { |line| line.include?('.java') }
           serialized = @json['backtraces'].first['backtrace'].reject { |elem| elem['type'] }
           expect(serialized).to eql(bt.map do |element|
@@ -471,17 +473,29 @@ def to_s() raise ArgumentError, "oops!"; end
         end
 
         it "should transmit information about the environment" do
+          send_exception
           expect(@json).to include('pid')
           expect(@json).to include('hostname')
           expect(@json['env_vars']).to eql(ENV.to_hash)
           expect(@json).to include('arguments')
         end
 
+        it "should not transmit env_vars if configured to exclude them" do
+          Squash::Ruby.configure include_env: false
+          send_exception
+          expect(@json).to include('pid')
+          expect(@json).to include('hostname')
+          expect(@json['env_vars']).to eql(nil)
+          expect(@json).to include('arguments')
+        end
+
         it "should transmit the user data" do
+          send_exception
           expect(@json['user_data']).to include('custom_data')
         end
 
         it "should transmit the exception instance variables" do
+          send_exception
           expect(@json['ivars']).to include('custom_ivar')
         end
       end