diff --git a/.gitignore b/.gitignore
index c10666e..3505b32 100644
--- a/.gitignore
+++ b/.gitignore
@@ -1,2 +1,4 @@
 .idea
 *.pyc
+build/
+elevate.egg-info/
diff --git a/README.rst b/README.rst
index ea6087c..14e100a 100644
--- a/README.rst
+++ b/README.rst
@@ -41,4 +41,8 @@ new console window. To suppress this window, use
 ``elevate(show_console=False)``.
 
 On Linux and macOS, graphical prompts are tried before ``sudo`` by default. To
-prevent graphical prompts, use ``elevate(graphical=False)``.
+prevent graphical prompts, use ``elevate(graphical=False)``. 
+
+For macOS non-graphical prompts (i.e. sudo) you can use 
+``elevate(graphical=False, preserve_env=True)`` and the relaunch as root will 
+preserve the shell environment.
diff --git a/elevate/.gitignore b/elevate/.gitignore
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..8f7dc02
--- /dev/null
+++ b/elevate/.gitignore
@@ -0,0 +1 @@
+ ..rfbrost.SOFTWARE.PYTHON.ELEVATE.elevate
diff --git a/elevate/__init__.py b/elevate/__init__.py
index 601623c..c77608e 100644
--- a/elevate/__init__.py
+++ b/elevate/__init__.py
@@ -1,7 +1,7 @@
 import sys
 
 
-def elevate(show_console=True, graphical=True):
+def elevate(show_console=True, graphical=True, preserve_env=False):
     """
     Re-launch the current process with root/admin privileges
 
@@ -19,5 +19,6 @@ def elevate(show_console=True, graphical=True):
         from elevate.windows import elevate
     else:
         from elevate.posix import elevate
-    elevate(show_console, graphical)
+        
+    elevate(show_console, graphical, preserve_env)
 
diff --git a/elevate/posix.py b/elevate/posix.py
index 06d2a81..e0b8ece 100644
--- a/elevate/posix.py
+++ b/elevate/posix.py
@@ -1,6 +1,7 @@
 import errno
 import os
 import sys
+
 try:
     from shlex import quote
 except ImportError:
@@ -12,7 +13,7 @@ def quote_shell(args):
 
 
 def quote_applescript(string):
-    charmap = {
+    charmap: str = {
         "\n": "\\n",
         "\r": "\\r",
         "\t": "\\t",
@@ -22,12 +23,12 @@ def quote_applescript(string):
     return '"%s"' % "".join(charmap.get(char, char) for char in string)
 
 
-def elevate(show_console=True, graphical=True):
+def elevate(show_console=True, graphical=True, preserve_env=False):
     if os.getuid() == 0:
         return
 
-    args = [sys.executable] + sys.argv
-    commands = []
+    args: str = [sys.executable] + sys.argv
+    commands: list = []
 
     if graphical:
         if sys.platform.startswith("darwin"):
@@ -44,11 +45,15 @@ def elevate(show_console=True, graphical=True):
             commands.append(["gksudo"] + args)
             commands.append(["kdesudo"] + args)
 
-    commands.append(["sudo"] + args)
+    if preserve_env:
+        pythonpath = os.environ.get('PYTHONPATH', '')
+        commands.append(["sudo", "-E", f"PYTHONPATH={pythonpath}"] + args)
+    else:
+        commands.append(["sudo"] + args)
 
     for args in commands:
         try:
             os.execlp(args[0], *args)
         except OSError as e:
             if e.errno != errno.ENOENT or args[0] == "sudo":
-                raise
+                 raise