diff --git a/lib/Moose/Error/Default.pm b/lib/Moose/Error/Default.pm
index 0c81d0e..1148c69 100644
--- a/lib/Moose/Error/Default.pm
+++ b/lib/Moose/Error/Default.pm
@@ -16,7 +16,12 @@ Class::MOP::MiniTrait::apply(__PACKAGE__, 'Moose::Meta::Object::Trait');

 sub new {
     my ( $self, @args ) = @_;
-    $self->create_error_confess( @args );
+    if(exists $ENV{MOOSE_ERROR_TERSE} && $ENV{MOOSE_ERROR_TERSE}) {
+        $self->create_error_croak( @args );
+    }
+    else {
+        $self->create_error_confess( @args );
+    }
 }

 sub create_error_croak {
@@ -59,7 +64,8 @@ Moose::Error::Default - L<Carp> based error generation for Moose.

 This class implements L<Carp> based error generation.

-The default behavior is like L<Moose::Error::Confess>.
+The default behavior is like L<Moose::Error::Confess>. To override
+this on a system basis, set $ENV{MOOSE_ERROR_TERSE}.

 =head1 METHODS