I know America is often regarded as an overstressed society, but I hadn’t realized just how far the stress problem had spread until I read this story in today’s Warwick Beacon by John Howell…

If you feel this has been an especially drab fall, you’re not alone.
Warmer and drier than normal conditions have dealt a double whammy to trees and shrubs and robbed them of the bright reds, yellows and oranges considered so much a part of a New England autumn….
What’s happened, explained [Brian Maynard, a professor of horticulture at the University of Rhode Island], is that trees and shrubs are “stressing out” and dropping their leaves while they are still green.