return \%merged;
}
+=head2 env_value($class, $key)
+
+Checks for and returns an environment value. For instance, if $key is
+'home', then this method will check for and return the first value it finds,
+looking at $ENV{MYAPP_HOME} and $ENV{CATALYST_HOME}.
+
+=cut
+
+sub env_value {
+ my ( $class, $key ) = @_;
+
+ $key = uc($key);
+ my @prefixes = ( class2env($class), 'CATALYST' );
+
+ for my $prefix (@prefixes) {
+ if ( defined( my $value = $ENV{"${prefix}_${key}"} ) ) {
+ return $value;
+ }
+ }
+
+ return;
+}
=head1 AUTHOR