It's not necessarily a dire situation right now. It's a risk associated with the fact that Steem itself carries debt. Certainly the older Steem people who started with the white paper and also those who were around in late 2016 are aware of it, because it was a widespread concern back then as well.

Yes there are solutions that could be implemented via hardfork. It is unlikely to avoid violating the integrity of the social contract for SBD though.