With the government’s latest figures showing America’s unemployment rate is still at 7.6 percent — despite the addition of 195,000 jobs — the country needs to invest now, according to a group made up of environmentalists and unions.

David Foster, the executive director of the BlueGreen Alliance, urged the nation’s leaders to take action.

“The economy is gradually gaining strength, but there is more we can achieve,” he said. “We can start with replacing the across the board budget cuts of the sequester with investments in our infrastructure. The systems we rely on every day — our roads and bridges; transit and rail; energy transmission; water treatment and delivery; and communications networks — are not ready for the worst impacts of climate change. It’s time to heed the call for action President Obama spoke about last week to safeguard our communities, create good jobs for the American people and build a stronger economy by addressing the reality of climate change today.”