I read the article and no, I do not see that there is no getting around the severity of the situation. The very last plot is ridiculous, how can they even extrapolate that from the graph given?
It is so simple a calculation and so ridiculous a situation, as you say (but in a different way than you mean), that this is a huge problem that will have to be confronted.
The CBO generates those kinds of calculations, and they're not a group known for making up things out of thin air.